List of All Articles with Tag 'us politics'

Abortion rights advocates on Tuesday won a critical victory in Ohio, beating back a measure that would have made their push to enshrine abortion rights in the state's constitution more difficult.

One of Ukraine's greatest tragedies as it pursues a critical offensive that has, so far, failed to meet its own and Western expectations is that it cannot, by itself, decide its destiny.

Despite Donald Trump’s penchant for attacking his political rivals on social media, the former president has taken issue with a tweet where Joe Biden is seen sipping coffee from a “Dark Brandon” themed mug. In a court document filed in Washington DC on Monday, Mr Trump’s attorneys complained that Mr Biden is capitalising on the former president’s legal troubles with the meme post. “President Biden has likewise capitalized on the indictment, posting a thinly veiled reference to his administration’s prosecution of President Trump just hours before arraignment,” his attorneys wrote in the filing. The court document then included a photo of the offending image, showing Mr Biden’s video post on his personal account on X – formerly known as Twitter. In the video, the president is seen drinking a cup of coffee from a mug featuring an image of Mr Biden with lasers coming out of his eyes – also known as “Dark Brandon”. In the clip, captioned “A cup of Joe never tasted better,” Mr Biden says: “I like my coffee dark.” The social media post includes a link to buy the mug, which is part of the merchandise being promoted by Mr Biden’s campaign as he seeks to capitalise on a trend that was first adopted by his critics. The “Dark Brandon” moniker was born out of the right-wing chant “Let’s Go Brandon” – a thinly-veiled chant meaning “f*** Joe Biden” – before it was adopted and turned into a merchandise opportunity by the president himself. Mr Biden’s tweet was posted on Thursday morning, hours before Mr Trump was arrested and arraigned on charges over his efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election and his role in the lead-up to the January 6 Capitol riot. Mr Trump’s complaint about the “Dark Brandon” meme post came in a court document filed by his defence attorneys on Monday arguing against a protective order in the case. Last week, special counsel Jack Smith’s office had requested a protective order in the federal criminal case limiting what Mr Trump can publicise about the case. Such an order would not stop Mr Trump from commenting on the case altogether, but would simply prevent him from disclosing evidence such as secret grand jury materials. The request specifically referred to a seemingly threatening Truth Social post from the former president where he wrote: “IF YOU GO AFTER ME, I’M COMING AFTER YOU!” On Monday, Mr Trump’s defence team filed a motion pushing back against the protective order, claiming that his political rivals are campaigning off the back of his legal troubles. They also claim a protective order would violate Mr Trump’s right to free speech in what they say is “a trial about First Amendment rights”. Instead, Mr Trump’s defence is asking the judge to narrow limits of a protective order so that his right to free speech is protected. Mr Smith’s office quickly filed a motion in response, accusing the former president of trying to “litigate this case in the media”. Now, Judge Tanya Chutkan has ordered that a court hearing will take place this week over the issue of a protective order in the case. The judge told both parties to give her two proposed dates and times by 3pm ET on Tuesday for when a hearing can be held over the matter. The hearing must take place by Friday, she said, and Mr Trump is not required to attend. The irony of Mr Trump’s issue with the president’s post comes as the former president has repeatedly railed against Mr Biden, the DOJ, Mr Smith and the judges overseeing his criminal cases in angry tirades on his Truth Social page. Meanwhile, Mr Biden has made no public comments on Mr Trump’s indictment on criminal charges. The former president was arrested last Thursday on four federal charges of conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, obstruction of and attempt to obstruct an official proceeding, and conspiracy against rights. He appeared in court in Washington DC for his arraigment that afternoon, where he pleaded not guilty to all charges. The former president is accused of conspiring with his allies to overturn the 2020 election, in a bid to sabotage the vote of the American people. A grand jury, which has spent months hearing evidence in special counsel Jack Smith’s investigation, returned a federal indictment on 1 August hitting him with four federal charges. The Justice Department alleges that Mr Trump and his circle of co-conspirators knew that he had lost the election but launched a multi-prong conspiracy to do everything they could to enable him to cling to power. This included spreading “knowingly false claims of election fraud to get state legislators and election officials to subvert the legitimate election results and change electoral votes for the Defendant’s opponent, Joseph R. Biden, Jr., to electoral votes for the Defendant”, the indictment states. Mr Trump and his allies also allegedly plotted to send slates of fake electors to seven “targeted states” of Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, New Mexico, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin which President Joe Biden had won – to get them to falsely certify the election for Mr Trump. The indictment also alleges Mr Trump tried to use the DOJ to “conduct sham election crime investigations”, sending letters to the seven states claiming that “significant concerns” had been found in the elections in those states. As well as the false claims about the election being stolen from Mr Trump, the scheme also involved pushing false claims that Vice President Mike Pence had the power to alter the results – and pushing Mr Pence to “fraudulently alter the election results”. When Mr Trump’s supporters stormed the US Capitol in a violent attack that ended with five deaths, Mr Trump and his co-conspirators “exploited” the incident by “redoubling efforts to levy false claims of election fraud and convince Members of Congress to further delay the certification based on those claims,” the indictment claims. At a press conference on Tuesday, Mr Smith placed the blame for the January 6 attack on the US Capitol firmly on Mr Trump’s shoulders. “The attack on our nation’s capitol on January 6, 2021, was an unprecedented assault on the seat of American democracy,” he said. “As described in the indictment, it was fueled by lies. Lies by the defendant targeted at obstructing a bedrock function of the US government – the nation’s process of collecting, counting and certifying the results of the presidential election.” The indictment marks Mr Trump’s second federal indictment, his third criminal indictment overall – and arguably his most serious. While the former president is the only person charged in the case, the indictment also refers to six co-conspirators who worked with him to try to overturn the 2020 presidential election. The six individuals – four attorneys, one Justice Department official and one political consultant – have not been named in the charging documents because they have not yet been charged with any crimes. However, based on the details in the indictment and records already known about the events leading up to the Capitol riot, the identities are apparent as Rudy Giuliani, Sidney Powell, John Eastman, Jeffrey Clark, Kenneth Chesebro and Boris Epshteyn. This marks Mr Trump’s third indictment after he was hit with New York state charges following an investigation into hush money payments made prior to the 2016 election and then separate federal charges over his alleged mishandling of classified documents on leaving office. He has pleaded not guilty in both of those charges as well. Read More Trump judge demands court hearing as Jack Smith and ex-president spar over protective order – latest Trump-appointed Judge Aileen Cannon sides with Trump again in classified documents case Special counsel accuses Trump of wanting to try Jan 6 case in media after bid to use evidence during 2024 run

Weeks into Ukraine's highly anticipated counteroffensive, Western officials describe increasingly "sobering" assessments about Ukrainian forces' ability to retake significant territory, four senior US and western officials briefed on the latest intelligence told CNN.

President Joe Biden on Tuesday said that he plans to soon visit Vietnam in an effort "to change our relationship," with the Southeast Asian nation.

Former Vice President Mike Pence's national security adviser Keith Kellogg -- who endorsed Donald Trump's reelection campaign on Tuesday -- urged Pence to finish certifying the 2020 election "TONIGHT" while the US Capitol was still secured during the January 6, 2021, insurrection.

Members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus criticised Texas governor Greg Abbott for deploying “cruel and inhumane” tactics like razor-tipped buoys as part of his controversial effort to lock down the US-Mexico border. “Today was eye-opening,” Rep Sylvia Garcia of Texas wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter, sharing a video of orange buoys used in the Rio Grande which are separated with blade saw-like barbed disks. “Seeing the barbaric, inhumane, and ungodly practices in my home state of Texas. This is beyond politics and crosses a line into human rights violations.” “Everyone needs to see what I saw in Eagle Pass today,” said Texas congressman Joaquin Castro in his own dispatch from the border. “Clothing stuck on razor wire where families got trapped. Chainsaw devices in the middle of buoys. Land seized from US citizens. Operation Lone Star is barbaric — and Governor Abbott is making border communities collateral damage.” The Texas governor has insisted that the buoys and razor wire he’s installed across the border between the state and Mexico will save lives by deterring migration. However, as The Independent has reported, advocates and Texas troopers are warning the tools are already putting people at risk. In July, a Texas state border medic named Nicholas Wingate went public with allegations that the border barriers were already causing severe injuries, and that he and his fellow troopers were ordered, as part of the governor’s Operation Lone Star, to push exhausted migrants back into the river and refuse to offer them water. (The state denies this order existed.) “I believe we have stepped over a line into the inhumane,” he told his superiors, in messages shared with media outlets. Last week, Mexican officials informed the state of Texas that two bodies were found in the Rio Grande: one ensnared in Governor Greg Abbott’s controversial floating border wall, and another in a nearby area. Critics allege the border build-up cause these deaths, though the cause of death for the two people found hasn’t been determined yet. Despite years of border security installations and billions invested across multiple state and federal administrations, migration continues to increase, hitting a record in December. “It’s been proven time after time that these so-called prevention through deterrence strategies don’t work,” Fernando García of the Border Network for Human Rights told The Independent last month. “They have not stopped immigration flows, but what they have done is they have put immigrants at risk.” “It’s very likely that with [the floating buoy wall] they are looking for more remote and isolated places to come across so that whenever they are in danger by heat exhaustion, by drowning, they will not have anybody to help them,” he added, saying he worries it could be a record year for migrant deaths in the Rio Grande. Members of Congress and human rights activists aren’t the only ones taking issue with the border barriers. Last month, a local kayak guide in Eagle Pass named Jessie Fuentes sued the state, arguing it doesn’t have authority to erect a floating border barrier in the Rio Grande. “You’ve taken a beautiful waterway and you’ve converted it into a war zone,” he toldThe Independent. The Department of Justice has also sued the state, arguing it violated federal waterways laws. Texas has insisted it has legal authority to carry out such measures, some of which it argues are allowed under a controversial reading of the US Constitution granting states war powers when theyr’e under invasion. Legal experts told The Independent this is a mistaken reading of the clause, which was intended to cover invasion by military forces, not regular immigration by civilians. “The theory that Abbott is relying on here is that the influx of undocumented individuals is an actual invasion. That also doesn’t pass muster,” Katherine Yon Ebright, counsel at the Brennan Center’s Liberty & National Security Program, told The Independent. Read More How governor Greg Abbott is using an obscure ‘invasion’ legal theory for a border power grab in Texas Republicans and Democrats agree: They want to kill migrants at the US-Mexico border Buoys, razor wire, and a Trump-y wall: How Greg Abbott turned the Rio Grande into an immigration ‘war zone’ After a glacial dam outburst destroyed homes in Alaska, a look at the risks of melting ice masses District attorney threatens to charge officials in California's capital over homelessness response Judge is asked to block Florida law making it a crime to drive people who are in the US illegally

Ohio voters rejected Tuesday an effort to raise the threshold to amend the state's constitution ahead of a November referendum on whether to constitutionally guarantee abortion rights there, handing abortion rights advocates a critical victory.

Donald Trump branded a Georgia prosecutor “a young racist” and claimed she had an “affair” with a gang leader, speaking to a rally just days before he is expected to face a criminal indictment from her office. The three-times indicted former president took shots at Fulton County district attorney Fani Willis, who is investigating him for his conduct in the state during the 2020 presidential election. “There’s a young racist in Atlanta ... They say she was after a certain gang and she ended up having an affair with the head of the gang or a gang member,” claimed Mr Trump during a speech in New Hampshire on Tuesday. “This is a person who wants to indict me. She’s got a lot of problems. But she wants to indict me to try and run for some other office … Wants to indict me for a perfect phone call, this was even better than my perfect call on Ukraine.” And he added: “I challenged the election in Georgia, which I had every right to do… and they want to indict me because I challenged the election.” It was not immediately clear what Mr Trump may have been referring to. Ms Willis is expected to soon indict him for illegally trying to reverse Joe Biden’s victory in the state, which paved his way to the White House. Mr Trump’s alleged election interference included his infamous phone call to Georgia secretary of state Brad Raffensperger, in which he demanded that he “find” him the 11,780 votes he needed to beat Mr Biden. Ms Willis has also investigated a scheme to put in place an alternate slate of presidential electors. Even if Mr Trump wins the 2024 election he cannot fire Ms Willis, unlike special counsel Jack Smith, as state crimes are not subject to presidential pardon. Mr Trump has already been indicted on federal charges that he tried to overturn the 2020 election and a separate federal case over alleged retention of government documents at his Mar-a-Lago home in Florida. He has also been charged by the Manhattan DA in a hush-money case linked to the 2016 presidential election. That case relates to allegations he paid off a porn actress he had allegedly had an affair with while his wife was nursing their newborn son. He has pleaded not guilty in all of the cases and strongly denied any wrongdoing. Earlier this year the former president was found liable for sexually assaulting a magazine columnist, E Jean Carroll, in a New York department store in the mid-1990s. Read More Trump vows to keep campaigning on his criminal cases despite prosecutors seeking order to stop Trump lawyers request date for protective order hearing – while completely ignoring judge’s instructions Trump doubles down on attacking Chris Christie’s weight Trump plans Iowa State Fair stop, though he won't attend candidate chat with GOP Gov. Kim Reynolds Trump and Biden tied in hypothetical 2024 rematch, poll finds

The man identified as the lover of Lindsay Shiver, who is charged with plotting to kill her former Auburn football player husband, rejected claims that the pair hired a hitman. Terrance Bethel, 28, told the Daily Mail that the now-infamous WhatsApp messages sent between him, Ms Shiver, and 29-year-old Faron Newbold were misunderstood and overblown by police. The outlet previously reported that Ms Shiver confessed during an interview with police to sending photos of her husband Robert Shiver to Mr Newbold, along with the message: “kill him.” Mr Bethel suggested that the messages were sent “out of frustration,” and insisted to the outlet that the charges would be dropped. After a Daily Mail reporter approached Mr Bethel asking for more insight into the WhatsApp messages, he reportedly responded that the police “have had both of my phones for three weeks. They’ve been through every single message - there’s nothing there.” He added, “None of us have anything to hide. People are taking everything at face value and defaming us.” From the outside looking in, this entire case is shocking. Mr Shiver was a college football star while Ms Shiver was a beauty pageant queen. The woman who once bragged on Instagram about her “perfect marriage”—and frequently posted photos of tropical family vacations—was accused last month of plotting to kill her husband of 13 years. The pair had already filed for divorce and are pursuing vicious counterclaims. Both are seeking custody of their three children as well as full use of their $2.5m Georgia mansion. She, Mr Bethel and Mr Newbold had been held in custody until, surprisingly, Mr Shiver helped them post bail. All three of the accused were granted emergency bail on 1 August. Ms Shiver was seen leaving Nassau’s Fox Hill Prison on Tuesday morning. The mother-of-three is required to wear an ankle monitor and stay in the Bahamas until her next court date on 5 October. Similarly, their next divorce hearing is reportedly set for 31 October. Mr Shiver filed for divorce for “adulterous conduct,” according to reports, while attorneys for Lindsay Shiver denied the affair, writing: “Any extramarital relationship defendant has had was during the parties’ separation and legally condoned by husband.” Read More College football star reportedly helped wife post bail after arrest for hitman plot to kill him Chilling text shows Lindsay Shiver telling lover and ‘hitman’ to ‘kill’ husband in Bahamas murder plot A football star’s wife bragged of her ‘perfect marriage’. Now she’s charged with hiring a hitman to kill him Trump doubles down on attacking Chris Christie’s weight Trump plans Iowa State Fair stop, though he won't attend candidate chat with GOP Gov. Kim Reynolds Trump and Biden tied in hypothetical 2024 rematch: poll

US District Judge Tanya Chutkan scheduled a hearing for Friday at 10 a.m. ET on the scope of a protective order -- the rules imposed for the handling of evidence -- in the special counsel's election subversion case against former President Donald Trump.

A federal judge in Texas on Monday ordered three attorneys for Southwest Airlines to attend "religious-liberty training" from a conservative legal advocacy group as punishment for allegedly violating his ruling in a religious discrimination case brought against the company by a fired flight attendant.