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Post by Webster on Apr 30, 2024 14:37:09 GMT -5
(The Guardian) Donald Trump considering pardons for January 6 insurrectionists, if electedDonald Trump has said that he is considering pardons for every person accused of attacking the US Capitol on 6 January if elected president in 2024, according to a new interview. Trump told Time that he refers to those involved in the 2021 insurrection as “J-6 patriots”. When asked if he “would consider pardoning every one of them”, Trump said: “Yes, absolutely.” Trump characterized those persecuted for their involvement in 6 January as being victims to a two-tier justice system. Trump said: It’s a two-tier system. Because when I look at Portland, when I look at Minneapolis, where they took over police precincts and everything else, and went after federal buildings, when I look at other situations that were violent, and where people were killed, nothing happened to them. Nothing happened to them. I think it’s a two-tier system of justice. I think it’s a very, very sad thing. And whether you like it or not, nobody died other than Ashli [Babbitt].
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Post by Webster on Apr 30, 2024 14:51:09 GMT -5
(The Guardian) Donald Trump told Time much about what he would have planned for a second term in the White House, which adds up to a far more extreme agenda than what he promised when elected in 2016. Here’s a summary of it all, from the interview: What emerged in two interviews with Trump, and conversations with more than a dozen of his closest advisers and confidants, were the outlines of an imperial presidency that would reshape America and its role in the world. To carry out a deportation operation designed to remove more than 11 million people from the country, Trump told me, he would be willing to build migrant detention camps and deploy the U.S. military, both at the border and inland. He would let red states monitor women’s pregnancies and prosecute those who violate abortion bans.
He would, at his personal discretion, withhold funds appropriated by Congress, according to top advisers. He would be willing to fire a U.S. Attorney who doesn’t carry out his order to prosecute someone, breaking with a tradition of independent law enforcement that dates from America’s founding. He is weighing pardons for every one of his supporters accused of attacking the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, more than 800 of whom have pleaded guilty or been convicted by a jury.
He might not come to the aid of an attacked ally in Europe or Asia if he felt that country wasn’t paying enough for its own defense. He would gut the U.S. civil service, deploy the National Guard to American cities as he sees fit, close the White House pandemic-preparedness office, and staff his Administration with acolytes who back his false assertion that the 2020 election was stolen.Time also managed to break a bit of news about Trump’s intentions beyond 2028. If elected in November, the constitution only allows him to serve one term, and he told the magazine that he has no plans “to overturn or ignore the constitution’s prohibition on a third term”. -Read more: time.com/6972021/donald-trump-2024-election-interview/
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Post by Webster on May 2, 2024 17:12:56 GMT -5
(The Guardian) Trump refuses to commit to accepting election loss and repeats 2020 lies in swing state Wisconsin rallyYesterday, Donald Trump had the day off from his trial in New York City on charges related to falsifying business records, and held a rally in Wisconsin, a swing state crucial to his presidential election chances. After a speech spent attacking Joe Biden over his handling of border security and inflation, Trump gave an interview to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, in which he falsely insisted that he won Wisconsin in 2020 (he did not) and “other locations”, and refused to commit to accepting the results of this year’s vote. “If everything’s honest, I’ll gladly accept the results. I don’t change on that. If it’s not, you have to fight for the right of the country,” the former president said. The comments were yet another indication that Americans should be prepared for a rocky election aftermath, should Trump lose in November to Biden. After the Democrat defeated him in 2020, Trump spent weeks attempting various plots to prevent Biden from taking power, culminating in the attack on the Capitol on January 6. Of course, there’s the chance that Trump could indeed win election again, as he did in 2016 – polls currently show a tight race with Biden, including in Wisconsin. Trump declines to address Wisconsin abortion ban in swing state appearanceThe Milwaukee Journal Sentinel asked Donald Trump for his thoughts on Wisconsin’s abortion ban, which is being challenged before the state supreme court, where liberal justices recently gained a majority. The former president declined to comment, and generally avoided the issue in his rally in Waukesha, instead repeating that he thought it should be up to states to regulate the procedure, the Journal Sentinel reports. Trump had a major role in the supreme court’s overturning of Roe v Wade in 2022, which paved the way for states to outlaw the procedure entirely, but has since fueled a string of Democratic victories in state and federal elections. He appointed three of the conservative judges who signed on to that ruling, but has since tried to avoid campaigning forcefully on the issue of abortion. Yesterday, Kamala Harris traveled to Florida to decry a strict abortion ban that went into effect there, and warned voters not to believe Trump’s insistence that he was not interested in passing a federal law cutting off access to the procedure.
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Post by Webster on May 2, 2024 17:14:22 GMT -5
(The Guardian) Donald Trump’s rally in Wisconsin yesterday was part of a brief campaign trip through two swing states that will be crucial to deciding the November elections. The Guardian’s David Smith documented the former president’s appearance in Michigan farm country: At a remote rural airport in Michigan, an outsized plane touched down as music from Tom Cruise’s film Top Gun boomed from loudspeakers. Late afternoon sunshine gleamed off five giant golden letters on the plane’s side – “TRUMP” – and its Rolls-Royce engines. A crowd bedecked in red roared as the plane rolled to a standstill behind a blue “TRUMP” lectern.
A door opened and men in dark glasses and dark suits from what Donald Trump would call “central casting” made their way down the stairs. “Trump! Trump!” the audience chanted, raising hundreds of camera phones in eager anticipation. Great Balls of Fire, Macho Man and YMCA blared. Finally, the former and would-be future president emerged, clapping and fist-pumping to the sound of whoops and cheers and Lee Greenwood’s God Bless the USA.
How different the warm embrace from Trump’s recent experience as a defendant on criminal trial in a chilly, dingy courtroom in New York. On those days, threatened with prison, he looks old, vulnerable and small. Back on the election campaign trail, it is all about hypermasculine energy and bigness – big plane, big crowds, big promises and big lies.
Trump had spent Tuesday in the now grimly familiar routine of the courtroom, where he is charged with 34 counts of falsifying business records to cover up a hush-money payment to the adult film performer Stormy Daniels. But the the court does not sit on Wednesday, freeing him to get a fresh shot of adulation from his fan base.
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Post by Webster on May 2, 2024 17:29:14 GMT -5
(The Guardian) Biden campaign condemns Trump's refusal to commit to honoring November election resultsJoe Biden’s re-election campaign has come out swinging against Donald Trump’s refusal in an interview yesterday to commit to accepting the results of the presidential election in November. From spokesman James Singer: President Biden has said, ‘You can’t love your country only when you win.’ But for Donald Trump, his campaign for revenge and retribution reigns supreme.
In his own words, he is promising to rule as a dictator on ‘day one’, use the military against the American people, punish those who stand against him, condone violence done on his behalf and put his own quest for power ahead of what is best for America.
Bottom line: Trump is a danger to the constitution and a threat to our democracy. The American people are going to give him another electoral defeat this November because they continue to reject his extremism, his affection for violence and his thirst for revenge.
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Post by Webster on May 6, 2024 15:48:23 GMT -5
(The Guardian) Biden spoke to Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu by phone this morning after hopes of a temporary ceasefire appeared to collapse and an Israeli military invasion of Rafah looms. According to a readout of their call, Biden updated Netanyahu on “efforts to secure a hostage deal, including through ongoing talks today in Doha, Qatar. The Prime Minister agreed to ensure the Kerem Shalom crossing is open for humanitarian assistance for those in need. The President reiterated his clear position on Rafah.” Kerem Shalom is the main crossing used to deliver humanitarian aid into Gaza. It was closed yesterday after a rocket attack claimed by Hamas killed three soldiers, the Israeli military said, with a reprisal strike on a house in Rafah reportedly killing at least three Palestinians. An invasion of Rafah appears imminent: the Israeli military on Monday urged 100,000 people in the southern Gaza city to evacuate. The Biden administration has repeatedly expressed its disapproval of Israeli military plans for a full-scale invasion of Rafah, where more than one million Palestinians displaced by Israel’s bombardment of Gaza have been sheltering. Also during the call, held on Holocaust Remembrance day, the leaders “discussed the shared commitment of Israel and the United States to remember the six million Jews who were systematically targeted and murdered in the Holocaust, one of the darkest chapters in human history, and to forcefully act against antisemitism and all forms of hate-fueled violence.”
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Post by Webster on May 6, 2024 15:51:40 GMT -5
(The Guardian) The former lieutenant governor of Georgia, Republican Geoff Duncan, will support Joe Biden in the November presidential election. “Unlike Trump, I’ve belonged to the GOP my entire life,” Duncan writes in an op-ed for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “This November, I am voting for a decent person I disagree with on policy over a criminal defendant without a moral compass.” Earlier this year Duncan ruled out an independent presidential run under the No Label’s banner. In the piece, he wrote that he is disappointed that the majority of his fellow Republicans have chosen to fall in line behind Trump, including some of his “fiercest detractors”. He expands on his concerns about Biden and the Democrats’ agenda, but says Trump has “disqualified himself through his conduct and his character.” He cited the former president’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election, his role in the January 6th assault on the US Capitol as well as his handling of the pandemic and his “incendiary” response to moments of national turmoil. “Trump has shown us who he is,” Duncan writes. “We should believe him. To think he is going to change at the age of 77 is beyond improbable.”
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Post by Webster on May 7, 2024 15:32:30 GMT -5
(The Guardian) We bring news of a presidential election event unlikely to ever happen: a head-to-head debate between Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee, and independent candidate Robert F Kennedy Jr. Kennedy’s campaign put out a statement Tuesday morning challenging Trump to a debate at the Libertarian convention in Washington DC from 24 to 26 May. In an accompanying open letter posted to X, Kennedy claims that polls have both himself and Trump “crushing” Joe Biden in November (spoiler: they don’t), so it makes sense for the two to debate at an event they’re both scheduled to speak at anyway: It’s perfect neutral territory for you and me to have a debate where you can defend your record for your wavering supporters. You yourself have said you’re not afraid to debate me as long as my poll numbers are decent. Well, they are.
So let’s meet at the Libertarian convention and show the American public that at least two of the major candidates aren’t afraid to debate each other. I asked the convention organizers and they are game for us to use our time there to bring the American people the debate they deserve!The Commission on Presidential Debates has announced three debates for this year, the first scheduled to take place on 16 September in San Marcos, Texas. Participants have yet to be announced.
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Post by Webster on May 7, 2024 15:37:43 GMT -5
(The Guardian) Reuters says Joe Biden will next Tuesday meet with chief executives of Citigroup, United Airlines, Marriott International and other corporations across a range of industries at the White House. Citing an administration official, the agency says the purpose of the meeting is “the national and global economy”. Polling for November’s election indicates Biden is weaker on the economy in voters’ minds, and the meeting is an opportunity to try to gather some momentum with less than six months remaining.
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Post by Webster on May 7, 2024 15:39:21 GMT -5
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Post by Webster on May 8, 2024 10:49:24 GMT -5
(The Guardian) Biden to announce $3.3bn AI center in WisconsinJoe Biden will visit the battleground state of Wisconsin today, where he is expected to unveil a $3.3bn Microsoft AI center. Biden’s trip to Racine will not only mark his fourth visit to Wisconsin this year but will also contrast the president from Donald Trump, who six years ago promised a Foxconn factory at the same location which never happened. As Biden gears up for his upcoming trip, Trump’s lawyers appears to have scored a win after federal judge Aileen Cannon indefinitely suspended the former president’s Mar-a-Lago documents trial in Florida on Tuesday. Cannon’s ruling that the case is not yet ready to taken before a jury serves in the favor of Trump, who has been trying to delay his criminal cases in hopes of winning the presidential election and appointing a loyalist attorney general who could help drop the charges.
In a statement released ahead of Joe Biden’s visit to Wisconsin later today, the White House took a jab at Donald Trump’s former administration and said: Six years ago, the prior administration touted a $10 billion investment by Foxconn that never materialized – now Microsoft will build a new AI datacenter on the same land, powering industries of the future in Wisconsin. Today, president Biden will travel to Racine, Wisconsin – the same location as the failed Foxconn investment that the prior administration visited six years ago – to showcase a community at the heart of his commitment to invest in places that have been historically overlooked or failed by the last administration’s policies.”
Here are some more details on Joe Biden’s upcoming announcement in Racine, Wisconsin, later today: The AI datacenter is set to construct 2,300 union construction jobs and 2,000 permanent jobs. Microsoft also plans to provide “skilled opportunities for thousands more Wisconsinites in the digital economy”, the White House said. Specifically, the tech giant will partner with Gateway Technical College to develop a datacenter academy that trains 1,000 Wisconsinites for datacenter and Stem roles by 2030, and will employ up to 2,000 people in permanent roles at its Racine facility, the White House added.
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Post by Webster on May 8, 2024 10:53:53 GMT -5
(The Guardian) With Joe Biden’s upcoming visit, it is important to note that Donald Trump once touted the Foxconn location at Racine, Wisconsin, as the “eighth wonder of the world”. In 2018, Trump spoke at a ceremonial groundbreaker for the factory which never happened, saying: “As Foxconn has discovered, there is no better place to build, hire and grow than right here in the United States.” However, in 2021, Foxconn largely abandoned the promised $10bn factory. In an updated deal with Wisconsin reported by Reuters at the time, Foxconn said it was going to reduce its planned investments to $672m and had planned on reducing the jobs from 13,000 to 1,454.
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Post by Webster on May 8, 2024 11:00:40 GMT -5
(The Guardian) In response to Joe Biden’s visit to Wisconsin later today, the state’s governor Tony Evers tweeted: “Today, I am jazzed to be joining @potus to celebrate Microsoft’s $3.3 billion investment in southeastern Wisconsin. This expansion will create jobs, including 2,300 union construction jobs, and open the door to countless opportunities for Wisconsin.”
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Post by Webster on May 10, 2024 14:21:10 GMT -5
(The Guardian) Former president Donald Trump has adopted the legal strategy of stalling and stalling to ensure his most sensitive trials will take place after the election. That strategy is working, reports Sam Levine: As had been expected for months, Judge Aileen Cannon on Tuesday scrapped a 20 May trial date that had been set in south Florida over the former president’s handling of classified documents. The delay was almost entirely the doing of Cannon, a Trump appointee, who allowed far-fetched legal arguments into the case and let preliminary legal matters pile up on her docket to the point where a May trial was not a possibility.
On Thursday, the Georgia court of appeals announced it would hear a request from Trump to consider whether Fani Willis, the Fulton county district attorney, should be removed from the election interference case against him because of a relationship with another prosecutor. The decision means both that Trump will continue to undermine Willis’s credibility and draw out the case. “There will be no trial until 2025,” tweeted Anthony Michael Kreis, a law professor at Georgia State University who has been closely following the case.
The third pending case against Trump, a federal election interference case in Washington, also appears unlikely to go to trial before the election. The US supreme court heard oral arguments on whether Trump has immunity from prosecution last month and seemed unlikely to resolve it quickly enough to allow the case to move forward ahead of the election.-Read more: www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/may/09/trump-case-delays-strategy
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Post by Webster on May 10, 2024 14:34:26 GMT -5
(The Guardian) Paul Manafort poised to join Trump campaign team, reports sayPaul Manafort returned to international consulting after Donald Trump pardoned him in 2020, The Washington Post reports. Manafort, in the years since obtaining clemency, worked on a Chinese streaming media venture. Now, the Post reports, Manafort is poised to join Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign. Manafort denied that his work on the Chinese media project would form a conflict of interest in the U.S.-China relationship. Before chairing Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign, Manafort’s former firm, called Black, Manafort, and Stone notoriously lobbied U.S. congress on behalf of foreign governments – including on behalf of human rights-abusing dictatorships, among them the regime of Ferdinand Marcos in the Philippines.
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