US Elections

Police made arrests after clashing with demonstrators participating in student-led protests against Israel's war in Gaza. The arrests came amid a wave of demonstrations at campuses across the US, which began last week after students at New York’s Columbia University set up encampments calling for the university to divest from weapons manufacturers with ties to Israel. The House speaker, Mike Johnson, jumped into the fray on Wednesday with a visit to Columbia’s campus, where he faced jeers from the pro-Palestinian protesters Police arrest protesters amid crackdown on student rallies across US campuses Continue reading...

Along with 11 fake electors, seven allies of the ex-president including Mark Meadows and John Eastman were also chargedAn Arizona grand jury has charged 18 people involved in the scheme to create a slate of false electors for Donald Trump, including 11 people who served as those fake electors and seven Trump allies who aided the scheme.Kris Mayes, Arizona’s Democratic attorney general, announced the charges on Wednesday, and said the 11 fake electors had been charged with felonies for fraud, forgery and conspiracy. Continue reading...

The US Senate has voted resoundingly by 79 to 18 to approve $95bn in aid for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, as a bipartisan super-majority united to send the long-stalled package to Joe Biden’s desk for signature. The bill was approved after proceedings that were hailed by the Senate majority leader, Chuck Schumer, as 'one of the greatest achievements the Senate has faced in years'US Senate passes $95bn in aid for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan Continue reading...

Republican former congresswoman writes in New York Times that 2020 election interference case must go to trial before NovemberThe former congresswoman and co-chair of the House January 6 committee Liz Cheney is urging the US supreme court to rule quickly on Donald Trump’s claim that he has immunity from prosecution for acts he committed while president – so that his 2020 election interference trial can begin before the 2024 election this November.“If delay prevents this Trump case from being tried this year, the public may never hear critical and historic evidence developed before the grand jury, and our system may never hold the man most responsible for January 6 to account,” Cheney wrote in an opinion article for the New York Times, published on Monday. Continue reading...

Smartmatic sued OAN in 2021, saying it was a victim of OAN’s ‘disinformation’ that its equipment flipped the election for BidenThe voting equipment company Smartmatic has agreed to settle a defamation lawsuit with the far-right One America News Network (OAN) over lies broadcast on the network about the 2020 election.Erik Connolly, a lawyer for Smartmatic, confirmed the case had been settled, but said the details were confidential. Attorneys for Smartmatic and OAN notified a federal judge in Washington on Tuesday that they were agreeing to dismiss the case, which Smartmatic filed in 2021. Continue reading...

If court curtails use of statute in connection with Capitol riot it could eliminate two of the four charges against Donald TrumpThe US supreme court expressed concern on Tuesday with prosecutors using an obstruction statute to charge hundreds of January 6 Capitol riot defendants, with the justices leaning towards a position that could jeopardize those prosecutions and the criminal case against Donald Trump.The Trump case was not mentioned at the argument. But a decision curtailing the use of the obstruction statute in connection with the Capitol attack could eliminate two of the four charges against the former president. Continue reading...

Donald Trump was seen arriving in court on Monday in his criminal trial involving the adult film actor Stormy Daniels and the former Playboy model Karen McDougal. Trump, the first former US president to face a criminal trial, is accused of paying Daniels and McDougal to cover up alleged extramarital liaisons that could have damaged his candidacy in the 2016 election. The trial is scheduled to start this morning, with jury selection in Manhattan supreme courtDonald Trump arrives in New York court for criminal trial over hush moneyDonald Trump trials – latest updates Continue reading...

The Arizona governor, Katie Hobbs, a Democrat, called for an Arizona supreme court ruling to be repealed that permits enforcement of an 1864 law banning almost all abortions. Speaking at a press conference the governor said: 'The near total civil war-era ban that continues to hang over our heads only serves to create more chaos for women and doctors in our state.' First passed when Arizona was still a territory, the ban only permits abortions to save a patient’s life and does not make exceptions for rape or incestArizona supreme court upholds 1864 law banning almost all abortions Continue reading...

The UK foreign secretary, David Cameron, has suggested the Aukus pact and Nato alliance must get into the best possible shape to increase their chances of surviving Donald Trump’s potential return to the White House. Speaking after high-level talks in Australia, Cameron was careful to avoid criticising the former US president and presumptive Republican nominee for 2024, saying it was 'up to America who they choose as their president'. The comments were in response to a question about whether the election of Trump in November would affect the Aukus agreement that was sealed with the Biden administration in March last yearDavid Cameron says Aukus and Nato must be in ‘best possible shape’ ahead of potential Trump win Continue reading...

In the vital swing state of Michigan, growing fractures among the Democratic base could spell trouble for Joe Biden in the November election. As party loyalists canvas in the run up to a primary vote, a protest movement against the president’s support for the war in Gaza gains momentum. Oliver Laughland and Tom Silverstone visit the state.Why are Republicans still supporting Donald Trump? - video Continue reading...

The Democratic Senate majority leader, Chuck Schumer, has said Benjamin Netanyahu has emerged as a 'major obstacle to peace' in Gaza, in a further sign of growing tensions between the US and its ally Israel. Schumer, the highest-ranking Jewish official in the US, accused Netanyahu of bowing to pressure from 'extremists' in his cabinet and appealed to Israel to 'change course', warning that the US would be prepared to use its leverage to shape Israeli policy if it failed to do soNetanyahu is obstacle to peace says top Democrat Chuck Schumer as he calls for new Israeli electionsBiden’s ‘bear-hugging’ of Netanyahu a strategic mistake, key Democrat says Continue reading...

Special counsel Robert Hur said his report on declassified documents held by President Biden didn't exonerate him, insisting 'that is not a part of my task as a prosecutor'. Hur also didn't rule out a possible future role in the Trump administration when pressed for an answer by Democratic congressman Eric Swalwell. 'I’m not here to speak about what may or may not happen in the future,' Hur told lawmakers Continue reading...

The former special counsel has defended comments he made on Joe Biden's memory in his report on the US president's handling of classified documents. Robert Hur appeared before a house judiciary committee on Tuesday, where he said: 'I did not sanitise my explanation. Nor did I disparage the president unfairly. I explained to the attorney general my decision and the reasons for it. That’s what I was required to do'Interview transcripts contradict Biden’s claims of special counsel’s questioningUS politics - latest updates Continue reading...

Abortion and reproductive rights took centre stage at the 2024 State of the Union, as Joe Biden sought to overcome concerns about his re-election chances by emphasising an issue that has energised voters since the overturning of Roe v Wade. The president has largely pinned his re-election hopes on the passions stirred by threats to abortion rights. The demise of Roe v Wade, which was overturned with the help of three justices appointed by Trump, has led more than a dozen states to enact near-total abortion bansReproductive rights take center stage during Biden’s State of the Union address‘My predecessor’, hecklers, and lots of fire: key takeaways from Biden’s state of the union address Continue reading...

The myth of the ‘stolen election’ – simple and endlessly repeated – is likely to be a rallying call for far-right terroristsWhen the back wheels of Air Force One finally lifted off the tarmac at Joint Base Andrews on Wednesday bound for Mar-a-Lago, Donald Trump’s White House-in-exile in West Palm Beach, cheers erupted in millions of households across America and around the globe.Four years of screeching tweets and ugly divisiveness were over, and for many it felt like the hope of a calmer, more civil world had swept in. Continue reading...

Apart from Joe Biden we had Kamala, Lady Gaga, Bernie’s mittens – and Trump suddenly seeming an irrelevanceIt started on Tuesday with nerves in the playground: why weren’t they holding it indoors? No one with sense, we agreed, had an appetite for spectacle, and our systems couldn’t take any more. Donald Trump was going, good riddance, but let’s not tempt fate; besides, on Wednesday morning we all had things to do. After a year of rolling crises, even New Yorkers were feeling meek and defeated. Let’s get this thing over with and try to move on.The most surprising thing about the inauguration this week – apart from the reminder that, when it comes to its national ceremonies, America is if anything even more camp than Britain – was the sheer, irrepressible joy of it. From the first minute to the last there was no containing this thing and nothing – not pragmatism, superstition, trauma fatigue or work – would get in the way of the feeling. “Bye bye Trump, that dummy,” said one of my daughters on Wednesday morning. And so it began. Continue reading...

Her recital at Joe Biden’s inauguration electrified viewers and sent the hitherto little known poet’s work to the top of the chartsOn Wednesday in Washington DC, a striking young woman stood at a podium on the steps of the US Capitol, surrounded by the country’s leaders, who were masked against the pandemic. She was unmasked, at a safe distance, so she could speak with resonance and force, spreading her enthusiastic vision without danger. She radiated joy, conviction and purpose as she declaimed the poem she had written to mark the inauguration of Joe Biden as 46th president of the US: The Hill We Climb. Tears sprang from the eyes of many listeners, those weary and wary from four years of domestic discord, whether they sat on folding chairs at the Capitol, or on easy chairs in their homes. Hearing her words, they felt hope for the future.That woman’s name is Amanda Gorman. She is America’s first national youth poet laureate and, at 22, she also is the youngest poet accorded the honour of delivering the presidential inaugural poem. But despite her youth, Gorman’s assurance and bearing made her seem to stand outside time. Erect as a statue, her skin gleaming as if burnished, her hair cornrowed, banded with gold and drawn tightly back into a red satin Prada headband, worn high like a tiara, she evoked what poet Kae Tempest calls the “Brand New Ancients”: the divinity that walks among us in the present day. According to Greek mythology, nine muses, daughters of Zeus and Mnemosyne, inspire creative endeavour, with five devoted to different kinds of poetry – epic, romantic, lyric, comic or pastoral and sacred. Gorman suggested a new poetic muse – one to inspire the poetry of democracy. Continue reading...

Following the US Capitol riot, Oliver Laughland and Tom Silverstone travel to Washington DC for the week of Joe Biden’s inauguration to find a downtown area under what is essentially military occupation and a city coming to terms with the trauma of Donald Trump’s final days in office. They speak to lifelong residents in the outer suburbs as well the US congresswoman Ilhan Omar, who tells of her harrowing experience of the 6 January riot. Trump’s former national security adviser John Bolton rails against criticisms of the Republican administration’s handling of the domestic terrorism threat'I didn’t know if I would make it out that day': Ilhan Omar on the terror of the Capitol attack Continue reading...

America and Britain are each emerging from disruptive internal periods. The alliance between them must be rooted in realism about the present, not fantasy about the pastIn British politics, everyone now loves President Joe Biden. That the UK opposition parties are foundation members of the Biden appreciation club is not surprising. Labour, the Liberal Democrats and the Greens all identify most naturally with the Democrats and thus with the new administration in Washington. But the changing of the guard at the White House this week has won strikingly broad support across the entire political spectrum too.Many Conservatives now take an enthusiastic view of Mr Biden as well. In some cases this is hard to believe – or forgive. Not long ago, many of the same Tory politicians who now enthuse about Mr Biden tried to bet the house on Donald Trump. Theresa May rushed to Washington to court him. Michael Gove conducted a gushing interview. Boris Johnson said he should get the Nobel peace prize. A US trade deal was obsessively talked up. Today, these same politicians are all friends of Joe and behave as if they barely knew Mr Trump. Continue reading...

Teacher who made inauguration gloves that went viral says she’s had thousands of requests for moreBernie Sanders’ mittens may have become the unexpected must-have fashion accessory of Joe Biden’s inauguration, but those hoping to steal the Vermont senator’s look are in for a disappointment. The teacher who made them and gave them to Sanders says she has none for sale.The mittens that sparked hundreds of internet memes were made from repurposed sweaters and recycled plastic by Jen Ellis, 42, a second grade teacher who lives in Essex Junction, Vermont, just outside of Burlington, where Sanders was mayor in the 1980s. Continue reading...