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Post by Webster on Sept 6, 2023 13:22:36 GMT -5
(The Guardian) Obsequiousness to Donald Trump has its consequences. Yesterday, former leader of the Proud Boys militia group Enrique Tarrio was given the longest sentence yet handed out for the January 6 insurrection, the Guardian’s Martin Pengelly reports: The former Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio was sentenced to 22 years in prison on Tuesday for his part in the failed plot to keep Donald Trump in power after the 2020 election.
Prosecutors sought a 33-year term. The judge did not agree but nonetheless handed down the longest sentence yet in a case relating to 2020 and the January 6 Capitol attack. The longest sentence previously handed down was 18 years, to both Ethan Nordean, a member of the Proud Boys, and Stewart Rhodes, the founder of the Oath Keepers militia.
Tarrio was a top target in one of the most important cases prosecuted by the US justice department over the deadly attack on Congress on 6 January 2021.
In May, Tarrio and three lieutenants were convicted of charges including seditious conspiracy, a civil-war-era offense previously rarely brought but now levied against members of far-right groups that took part in the January 6 attack.
In remarks to the court in Washington, Tarrio said he was sorry for the events of January 6, and credited police officers for their bravery in resisting the attack.
“What happened on January 6 was a national embarrassment,” Tarrio said, adding that he both now knew Trump lost to Joe Biden and blamed himself for actions that led to him losing his freedom.
Becoming emotional, Tarrio said: “I do not think what happened that day was acceptable.”
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Post by Webster on Sept 6, 2023 13:23:23 GMT -5
(The Guardian) Group sues to bar Trump from Colorado ballot over January 6Ethics watchdog Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) announced that they have filed a lawsuit in Colorado to prevent Donald Trump from appearing as a presidential candidate on ballots in the state next year, arguing that his involvement in the January 6 insurrection is disqualifying. CREW made a similar case last year when the group successfully sued to remove Couy Griffin from his position as a county commissioner in New Mexico after he was found guilty of crimes related to his involvement in the Capitol attack. Today’s lawsuit was filed on behalf of six Republican and unaffiliated voters in Colorado, and cites section 3 of the 14th amendment to the constitution, which states: No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice-President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability.CREW argues that Trump “violated that oath by recruiting, inciting and encouraging a violent mob that attacked the Capitol on January 6, 2021 in a futile attempt to remain in office.” “We aren’t bringing this case to make a point, we’re bringing it because it is necessary to defend our republic both today and in the future,” said Noah Bookbinder, the group’s president. “While it is unprecedented to bring this type of case against a former president, January 6th was an unprecedented attack that is exactly the kind of event the framers of the 14th Amendment wanted to build protections in case of. You don’t break the glass unless there’s an emergency.” Once a swing state, Colorado has become increasingly Democratic in recent elections. CREW signaled that its lawsuit will be the first of several to keep the former president from appearing on ballots next year, despite his ongoing presidential campaign that polls show is the most popular among Republican voters. “Based on its laws, the calendar, and our courageous set of plaintiffs and witnesses, Colorado is a good venue to bring this first case, but it will not be the last,” the group said.
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Post by Webster on Sept 6, 2023 19:46:07 GMT -5
(The Guardian) The former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee warned that if Donald Trump is prevented from winning in the 2024 presidential election, then it will be the last election “decided by ballots rather than bullets”. Huckabee, in an episode on his TBN show, argued that the former president’s various legal battles are part of a political motivated scheme from the Biden administration. He said: Here’s the problem: if these tactics end up working to keep Trump from winning or even running in 2024, it is going to be the last American election decided by ballots rather than bullets.He also accused the justice department, IRS and FBI of “conspiring to hide the Biden family crimes, while all the time being obsessed with charging Donald Trump with crimes”.
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Post by Webster on Sept 11, 2023 19:08:03 GMT -5
(The Guardian) Joe Biden’s national security tour of south-east Asia reached Hanoi, Vietnam, on Sunday, where the president called for stability in the US-China relationship against an increasingly complex diplomatic picture in the region for his country. “I don’t want to contain China,” Biden said. -- I just want to make sure that we have a relationship with China that is on the up and up, squared away, everybody knows what it’s all about.Biden also said that China’s recent economic downturn may limit any inclination to invade Taiwan. He added that the country’s economic woes had left President Xi Jinping with “his hands full right now”. The president’s remarks came after a meeting with Nguyen Phu Trong, the general secretary of Vietnam’s ruling Communist party, in the nation’s capital designed to secure global supply chains of semiconductors and critical minerals, which would offer a strategic alternative to China. The meeting came during a multi-front diplomatic push to shore up international support for Ukrainian resistance to Russia’s invasion and enunciate a policy toward China that both encourages trade and reduces the potential for US-Chinese conflict.
Joe Biden, in Hanoi earlier today, visited a memorial for his late friend and senator, John McCain, who was a prisoner of war during the Vietnam war. Before departing Vietnam to return to the US, the president visited the John Sidney McCain III memorial near the site where a 31-year-old McCain was shot down and captured in 1967. The harrowing incident began a more than five-year ordeal that became the defining moment for the future Republican senator from Arizona and two-time presidential candidate, according to AP.
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Post by Webster on Sept 11, 2023 19:36:35 GMT -5
(The Guardian) After defending the integrity of US elections from an onslaught of threats over the last several years, secretaries of state across the US are now turning to a new high-stakes question: is Donald Trump eligible to run for president? Several secretaries are already working with attorneys general in their states and studying whether Trump is disqualified under a provision of the 14th amendment that bars anyone from holding public office if they have previously taken an oath to the United States and then “engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same”. That language clearly disqualifies Trump from running in 2024, William Baude and Michael Stokes Paulsen, two prominent conservative scholars, concluded in a lengthy forthcoming law review article. They write in the article: If the public record is accurate, the case is not even close. He is no longer eligible to the office of Presidency, or any other state or federal office covered by the Constitution. All who are committed to the Constitution should take note and say so.A flurry of challenges to Trump’s candidacy are expected – one was filed in Colorado on Wednesday – but the legal issues at play are largely untested. Never before has the provision been used to try to disqualify a presidential candidate from office and the issue is likely to quickly come to a head as soon as officials make their official certifications about who can appear on primary ballots. Secretaries are studying who has the authority to remove Trump from the ballot and what process needs to occur before they do so. They also recognize that the issue is likely to be ultimately settled by the courts, including the US supreme court. Jocelyn Benson, a Democrat in her second term as Michigan’s secretary of state, said she had spoken with another secretary of state about the 14th amendment issue “nearly every day”. -- The north star for me is always: ‘What is the law? What does the constitution require?’ To keep politics and partisan considerations out of it. And simply just look at this from a sense of ‘what does the 14th amendment say?’ We’re in unprecedented, uncharted territory.
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Post by Webster on Sept 13, 2023 13:59:52 GMT -5
(The Guardian) Top New Hampshire election official says he will not block Trump from ballotDavid Scanlan, New Hampshire’s secretary of state, said there is no legal basis for keeping Donald Trump off the ballot in the state, which will hold the first Republican presidential primary next year. Scanlan, speaking at a press conference on Wednesday, rejected claims made in lawsuits filed in New Hampshire and elsewhere that Trump is ineligible to run for re-election under section 3 of the 14th amendment, which prohibits those who “engaged in an insurrection or rebellion” against the US constitution from holding higher office, according to an AP report. Scanlan said: There is no mention in New Hampshire state statute that a candidate in a new presidential primary can be disqualified using the 14th amendment of the United States constitution referencing insurrection or rebellion. Similarly, there is nothing in the 14th amendment that suggests that exercising the provisions of that amendment should take place during the delegate selection process held by the different states.He also raised concerns that an uneven application of the clause in different states could lead to “chaos, confusion, anger and frustration”. He added: As long as he submits his declaration of candidacy and signs it under the penalties of perjury and pays the $1,000 filing fee, [Donald Trump’s] name will appear on the presidential primary ballot.Scanlan’s announcement came a day after the Trump campaign sent him a letter signed by a group of Republican state lawmakers urging him to reject what they called “an absurd conspiracy theory”.
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Post by Webster on Sept 14, 2023 16:12:35 GMT -5
(The Guardian) Nearly half of South Carolina’s Republican primary voters favor Donald Trump, with the former president leading the state’s former governor, Nikki Haley, by nearly 30 points, according to a new poll. The Washington Post/Monmouth University poll found that 46% of potential GOP primary voters in South Carolina support Trump. Haley stands in second place at 18%, while 10% support South Carolina senator Tim Scott and 9% back Florida governor Ron DeSantis.
The poll of potential GOP primary voters in South Carolina also showed that people who said they support Donald Trump are more likely to say abortion should be illegal. Of those who back Trump, 73% say abortion should be illegal in most or all cases, while 52% of those voters who support other Republican presidential candidates say abortion should be legal. The poll also found that 65% of Trump primary supporters say “Whites losing out to preferences for Blacks and Hispanics” is a bigger problem in the US than “Blacks and Hispanic losing out due to preferences for Whites”.
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Post by Webster on Sept 14, 2023 16:14:03 GMT -5
(The Guardian) Ron DeSantis enjoyed undisclosed private flights and lavish trips through wealthy donors – reportFlorida governor and Republican presidential hopeful Ron DeSantis traveled on private jets and enjoyed luxury travel and leisure time with wealthy donors that he failed to properly disclose, according to a Washington Post report. The report about DeSantis’s travel arrangements concerned “at least six undisclosed trips on private jets and … lodging and dining in late 2018”, when DeSantis was Florida governor-elect, having won power with Donald Trump’s endorsement. One of the undisclosed flights was to Augusta National in Georgia, home of the Masters golf tournament, the report said. The donor who supplied the jet, Mori Hosseini, also supplied a golf simulator for the governor’s mansion in Tallahassee. DeSantis also took four other flights on a plane registered to donor John Cwik, the paper said, adding that the governor did not report the flights or accommodations as gifts or campaign contributions. The report continues: The undisclosed trips, which have not been previously reported, reflect how DeSantis fueled his political rise through close bonds with rich patrons and had a taste for luxury travel, in contrast to his campaign’s portrayal of DeSantis’s humble blue-collar roots and aversion to moneyed interests. His preference for private jet travel has continued into his White House bid, even as his campaign has struggled to rein in spending. In an unusual arrangement, the campaign is sharing some costs for private plane travel with the super PAC supporting him.
A spokesperson for Ron DeSantis responded to a report about undisclosed trips on donors’ private jets and said the report is an example of “Trump-legacy media collusion”. The DeSantis spokesperson, Andrew Romeo, directed the paper to a former aide to the Florida governor now a top adviser to Donald Trump. Romeo said: Additional questions regarding events, itineraries and documentation from almost five years ago should be directed to Susie Wiles, the staffer who oversaw such matters prior to her dismissal.Wiles, the Washington Post said, “deferred questions to the Trump campaign”. Trump spokesperson Steven Cheung said “the DeSantis campaign’s ridiculous statement doesn’t even merit a response”, but responded to it anyway. -- Instead of pointing fingers and trying to place blame on others – like they have historically done – the DeSantises should take a good, hard look in the mirror to better understand why they chose to act unethically and sell access to their office.On the subject of DeSantis’s travel arrangements, Romeo told the paper: All travel and events you mention – from almost five years ago – were compliant and received proper payment. Efforts to fundraise for state political parties and cultivate relationships with state officials are standard for political leaders, especially during an election year.
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Post by Webster on Sept 15, 2023 21:59:55 GMT -5
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Post by Webster on Sept 15, 2023 22:00:42 GMT -5
(The Guardian) Exclusive: US economy going strong under Biden – but Americans don’t believe itAmericans do not trust the government’s economic news – or the media’s reporting of it – according to a Harris poll conducted exclusively for the Guardian that presents the White House with a major hurdle as it pushes Joe Biden’s economic record ahead of next year’s election. The US has roared back from the Covid recession by official measures. But two-thirds of Americans are unhappy about the economy despite consistent reports that inflation is easing and unemployment is close to a 50-year low. And the poll suggests many are unaware of or don’t believe the positive economic news the government has reported. The results illustrate a dramatic political split on economic views – with Republicans far more pessimistic than Democrats. But unhappiness about the economy is widespread. --Two-thirds of respondents (68%) reported it’s difficult to be happy about positive economic news when they feel financially squeezed each month (Republicans: 69%, Democrats: 68%). --Two-thirds of Americans (65%) believe that the economy is worse than the media makes it out to be rather than better (35%). --In August the unemployment rate was 3.8%, close to a 50-year low. But the poll found that 51% wrongly believe that unemployment is nearing a 50-year high rather than those who believe it’s actually low (49%).
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Post by Webster on Sept 15, 2023 22:03:07 GMT -5
(The Guardian) The lack of confidence in the economy has many academics and politicians puzzled. Some have blamed the US’s polarized politics and this was illustrated in the poll. But Harris’s data also shows that fears are widespread – and reinforced by disbelief of or ignorance about official figures and a mistrust of the media’s reporting of them. Some 82% of Republicans and 66% of independents believe the economy is worse than the media’s portrayal. But nearly half of Democrats (49%) also said the media viewed the economy too favorably. Overall, the poll found widespread despondency about the state of the economy. More than half of Americans (53%) believe the economy is getting worse instead of better or staying the same. Republicans and independents are more likely to think it’s getting worse (72% and 58%, respectively, v Democrats: 32%), while more Democrats think it’s getting better (32% v Republicans: 8%, independents: 13%). The results paint a difficult picture for Joe Biden, who is making “Bidenomics” – his economic policy record – a central plank of his re-election platform. The views of those familiar with Bidenomics showed a perhaps unsurprising party split. Some 60% of Democrats believe his plans are improving the US economy overall compared with 12% of Republicans. There is a widespread belief that Bidenomics is good in theory but isn’t being implemented well – something both Democrats and Republicans agree with (62% v 58%). Biden supporters have just launched a $13m advertising campaign extolling the president’s economic achievements, which include a landmark $1.2tn infrastructure and climate bill, massive investment in domestic microchips production and green energy solutions. His legislative actions are predicted to create 1.5m jobs per year for the next decade. That message may be hard to sell given the widespread disbelief of and ignorance about the health of the US economy highlighted by the poll.
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Post by Webster on Sept 15, 2023 22:03:46 GMT -5
(The Guardian) As well as being wrong about the unemployment data, respondents were unaware of, or chose to mischaracterize, other major economic data points. The widest measure of economic growth – gross domestic product – increased at a 2.1% annualized rate last quarter and has been steadily improving since the Covid downturn. But more respondents (59%) believe that the US economy is shrinking this year than those who believe it is growing (41%). More Republicans (72%) and independents (63%) believe the economy is shrinking than do Democrats. But still, a sizeable 44% of Democrats believe the economy is shrinking. The S&P 500 stock market index is up 16% so far this year. But 59% of respondents wrongly said they believe the S&P is down for the year compared with those who said they believe it is up (41%). The majority of all those asked said the S&P was down whether Republican (66%), independent (60%) or Democrat (52%). US wages are, finally, growing faster than inflation. But 75% of those polled wrongfully believe that wages aren’t keeping up with inflation. That view is held by the majority of Republicans (84%), independents (75%) and Democrats (67%). There was some good news for Joe Biden. The poll found that 75% of respondents support at least one of the four main branches of Bidenomics: improving infrastructure, attracting high-tech electronics manufacturing, building clean energy manufacturing facilities and attracting more high-paying union jobs. Still, 51% of Americans believe that government spending under the current administration is having a negative impact on the US economy (Republicans: 72%, independents: 54%, Democrats: 30%) rather than a positive impact (21%) or no impact (28%). And only just over a third of Democrats (35%) believe it’s having a positive impact (Republicans: 11%, independents: 16%). John Gerzema, the CEO of Harris Poll, said: All these perceptual-reality gaps underscore Biden’s difficulty in claiming credit for economic gains. Americans either view the economy through their politics or aren’t feeling it in real life, or both.
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Post by Webster on Sept 15, 2023 22:12:55 GMT -5
(The Guardian) Donald Trump has widened his lead in the Republican presidential primary in the three weeks since the first GOP primary debate – in which he did not take part, according to a new poll. The Fox News poll showed 60% of potential Republican primary voters support Trump, up from 53% in a survey taken before the 23 August debate in Milwaukee. The report said: Some of Trump’s biggest gains come from women (+10), voters under age 45 (+9), White evangelicals (+8), and White men without a college degree (+8).Trump’s closest rival, Florida governor Ron DeSantis, has seen his support drop since the debate, the results showed. The survey found 13% of GOP voters back DeSantis in the primary, down three points. Vivek Ramaswamy held his third-place slot at 11%
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Post by Webster on Sept 20, 2023 13:51:29 GMT -5
(The Guardian) Ex-president Donald Trump and his former chief of staff Mark Meadows joked about Covid-19 on a plane ride following the first debate with Joe Biden, a new book reveals. The Guardian’s Martin Pengelly reports: Donald Trump and his chief of staff Mark Meadows joked about the then US president having Covid on Air Force One after the first debate with Joe Biden in 2020 – an event at which Trump was not tested but three days before which, Meadows later confessed, Trump had indeed tested positive.
On the flight, on 29 September 2020, Trump speculated about his health, saying he thought his voice had sounded “a little bit off” at a rally in Duluth, Minnesota. But he also said he did not want the media to “accuse me of something ridiculous, like having Covid”.
Meadows “laughed and promised him that we would handle it if it happened”.
“We” referred to Meadows and Cassidy Hutchinson, the chief of staff’s closest aide who has now written a memoir, Enough. The book, which describes Hutchinson’s journey from Trump loyalist to key witness in the January 6 inquiry, will be published in the US next Tuesday. The Guardian obtained a copy.
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Post by Webster on Sept 22, 2023 14:47:57 GMT -5
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