Evelyn Reynolds

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    De Niro, Clooney … Chuck Norris? Biden and Trump seek star power for election boost

    Once heard, never forgotten, the voice is familiar to admirers of The Godfather Part II, Taxi Driver, The Deer Hunter, Raging Bull, Goodfellas, Heat, The Irishman and countless others. “Trump wants revenge,” says Robert De Niro, “and he’ll stop at nothing to get it.”This was an ad released on Friday by Joe Biden’s campaign to remind voters of Donald Trump’s dark and divisive presidency and warn that his return to power could be even worse. The use of De Niro – a fierce Trump critic – as narrator was no accident but a reminder of the power of celebrities at the ballot box in America.Every four years candidates are eager to recruit big names who might wield influence over the electorate, not least young first-time voters. This time, with both Biden and Trump suffering low approval ratings, and with the race set to be extremely close, any addition of star power could be crucial in breaking through the noise.“In this election celebrity involvement and celebrity endorsements and celebrity education is the most important that it’s ever been in American history,” said Richard Greene, a political communication strategist based in Los Angeles. “It is absolutely essential that celebrities and influencers help break through the disinformation and misinformation and lack of information that is being generated by people relying on often crazy, useless and counterproductive social media posts.”Biden’s campaign reportedly plans to host a major fundraiser in Los Angeles next month with the Hollywood actors George Clooney and Julia Roberts as well as former president Barack Obama. He has given interviews to the actors Will Arnett, Jason Bateman and Sean Hayes for their SmartLess podcast. In the coming months he will also hope to gain the backing of stars who backed him in 2020 such as Tom Hanks, Jennifer Hudson and the biggest prize of all: Taylor Swift.But the president now has a record to defend. Last month wrestler turned actor Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and the rapper Cardi B, both of whom voted for Biden in 2020, said they would not repeat the endorsements this time. Cardi B told Rolling Stone that she had experienced “layers and layers of disappointment”, adding: “I feel like people got betrayed.”Still, Biden can count on a starrier lineup than Trump, whose past supporters have included the singers Jason Aldean and Kid Rock and actors Dean Cain, Kelsey Grammer, Chuck Norris and Jon Voight. Struggling for A-listers, the Republican candidate often tries to make a virtue of necessity by claiming to represent the forgotten people against the Hollywood elites.This year, however, there is a wildcard in Robert Kennedy Jr, a conspiracy theorist and member of the famed political dynasty running as an independent candidate. Kennedy is married to Cheryl Hines, an actor who played Larry David’s wife on the HBO series Curb Your Enthusiasm, although David has said he does not support Kennedy’s campaign.The independent candidate’s supporters do include the actor Woody Harrelson, who narrated a documentary on behalf of his campaign, and Kevin Spacey, an Oscar-winning actor who has denied multiple allegations of inappropriate sexual behaviour from men, claiming legal victories in New York and London.Spacey wrote on X last month: “There’s a lot I can learn from this man. When the world turned its back on me, Bobby leaned in. He’s a formidable fighter for justice and a loyal friend that’s not afraid to stand up for what he believes.”Kennedy is also benefiting from celebrity fundraisers. A recent “Night of Country & Comedy with Robert F Kennedy Jr and Friends” in Nashville was billed as featuring the comedians Russell Brand, Jim Breuer and Rob Schneider and musical performances by Kayley Bishop, John Carter Cash and Ana Cristina Cash. John Carter Cash is the only child of Johnny Cash and his second wife June Carter Cash.But Greene commented: “Yes, Bobby Kennedy will collect some famous names but it will be minuscule compared to the growing list of far more significant names for Joe Biden. As we get closer to the actual election, more and more big names, celebrities and influencers will understand the consequences of the election, will be scared by the likely polling and will jump in, even bigger than they did in 2020.”Much has changed since the days when Oprah Winfrey led a stellar lineup on behalf of candidate Barack Obama. The audacity of hope has given way to widespread cynicism towards politicians. The rise of TikTok, YouTube and other social media has given celebrities and influencers a direct line to millions of voters outside the party narratives.David Litt, a former Barack Obama speechwriter, said: “A George Clooney endorsement now is much more valuable for Biden than a George Clooney endorsement was for Obama in 2012 because if George Clooney just goes out there and says, hey, unemployment is low, people will listen to him who will not listen to a politician on either side of the aisle. They’re just done with politicians.“That’s a huge difference. If you’re a celebrity now, you kind of play the role that an entire newspaper might have played back 20, 30 years ago.”Litt, author of Thanks, Obama: My Hopey, Changey White House Years, added: “Celebrities are better organised than they were 20 years ago because either they or their representatives are all on the same text chains. That means is it is easier for celebrities, if they want to, to not just endorse a campaign but to do stuff. That’s what you saw in 2020.“Along those lines, the other big difference is if George Clooney sat down tomorrow and said, ‘I want to do a 30-second video about why I’m voting for Biden’, he can just do that. He doesn’t need to cut an ad for the campaign and that authenticity would actually be more powerful. Celebrities have more reach than ever and that gives them more influence than ever.” More

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    Republican Tim Scott falsely claims Biden policy resegregates public schools

    Donald Trump’s inner circle is stepping up efforts to woo Black and other minority voters, with a leading candidate to be his vice-presidential running mate claiming falsely on Sunday TV that Joe Biden was resegregating US public schools.Tim Scott, the US senator from South Carolina who has been open about his desire to be on Trump’s ticket, made one of the most extreme claims yet. Speaking on CNN’s State of the Union show, he described President Biden as a supporter of educational segregation.“We need four more years of common sense under Donald Trump, and not four more years of segregation under Joe Biden,” Scott, who is African American, said.Asked by CNN host Dana Bash whether suggesting Biden was for segregation was going too far, Scott tried to justify the contention by saying that “the elimination of charter schools under Joe Biden resegregates schools in America”. He added that schools in the largest cities were being resegregated by “Joe Biden’s Department of Education which has halted the growth of charter schools that provide greater diversity”.In fact, charter schools, which are publicly funded but which operate outside state school systems, are backed by federal government grants through the Charter Schools Program to the tune of $440m a year – a level that has remained unchanged since 2019 under the Trump administration. Scott’s argument that charter schools create more diversity is also open to question.New research carried out by sociologists at Stanford University and the University of Southern California to mark 70 years of the landmark US supreme court ruling outlawing segregated schools, Brown v Board of Education, reveals that segregation has been creeping back up for the past 30 years. One of the main drivers of the revival, contrary to Scott’s claim, has been the rise of charter schools, the academics discovered.In recent weeks Trump has stepped up his attempt to prise Black voters away from their long-standing support for the Democratic party. On Thursday, he staged a rally in the South Bronx, one of the most diverse and staunchly Democratic parts of the country, where 95% of the population is Black or Hispanic.Trump made a brazen play for the support of Black voters at the rally, talking about “millions and millions of illegals coming into the country” who he said had a negative impact particularly on minority American communities. “African Americans are getting slaughtered. Hispanic Americans are being slaughtered,” he said.The Trump campaign push comes as recent opinion polls indicate that his support among these demographic populations is climbing. The Pew Research Center found in a recent survey that 18% of Black voters were leaning for Trump, compared with the 8% of Black voters who voted for him in 2020.skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotionThe Biden campaign has responded to the apparent shift towards Trump by targeting negative political adverts accusing Trump of a track record of racism. Last week it released a 30-second ad that invoked the case of the Central Park Five, Black men who were wrongly convicted of raping a jogger in 1989.Trump took out a full-page advert in local newspapers soon after the men were arrested, calling for New York to bring back the death penalty. More

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    Samuel Alito’s wife claimed upside-down flag was ‘international sign of distress’

    The wife of US supreme court justice Samuel Alito reportedly justified the display of an upside-down American flag at the couple’s home by saying it was “an international signal of distress”, as senior Democrats have requested a meeting with the chief justice over the growing scandal.Martha-Ann Alito made the comments to a Washington Post reporter, the outlet reported on Saturday, when the journalist visited the couple’s Virginia home in January 2021, not long after the attack on the US Capitol by extremist supporters of Donald Trump.She reportedly told the Washington Post at the time that the flag had been run up their flagpole in that way in response to a neighborhood dispute.Flying the Stars and Stripes flag upside down is acceptable as a rare distress signal, according to the official US flag code. But these days it is more often associated with activists making an extremist sign of protest, and at the time of the January 6 insurrection it had been adopted by some on the far right amid efforts, ultimately unsuccessful, to overturn Joe Biden’s 2020 election victory over Trump.The Washington Post report said on Saturday, quoting the outlet’s own spokesperson, that “the Post decided not to report on the episode at the time because the flag-raising appeared to be the work of Martha-Ann Alito, rather than the justice, and connected to a dispute with her neighbors … It was not clear then that the argument was rooted in politics.”In another twist, it was the New York Times that first reported earlier this week the display of the American flag in that fashion at the Alitos’ residence in early 2021, during a political row with neighbors.That was swiftly followed by a second report from the Times that another flag, one originally associated with the American revolution but now associated with the far right and known as the “Appeal to Heaven” flag, was flying last year above a holiday home of the Alitos in New Jersey.View image in fullscreenTwo leading Democratic senators are requesting a meeting with the supreme court chief justice, John Roberts, in the wake of these reports. This comes on top of calls demanding that Justice Alito recuse himself from election-related cases before the court and face investigation by the US Senate, the congressional chamber that confirms federal and supreme court judges.The Senate judiciary committee chair, Dick Durbin, and the senator and judiciary committee member Sheldon Whitehouse wrote a letter to Roberts earlier this week asking him for a meeting to discuss court ethics and to take steps to ensure that Alito recuses himself from any cases before the court concerning the January 6 attack or Trump’s attempts to overturn his 2020 election defeat.The court did not respond to a request for comment regarding the letter.The court is considering two major cases related to the Capitol attack, including one related to charges faced by the rioters and another on whether Trump has immunity from prosecution on election interference charges. Alito is participating in both cases and has rejected calls from Democrats in the past to recuse himself on other issues.skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotionAlito earlier said he had no part in the flying of the inverted American flag. He and the court declined to respond to requests for comment on how the “Appeal to Heaven” banner came to be flying and what it was intended to express.Durbin and Whitehouse said they will continue to pressure the court. The plea for a meeting is a new approach after Roberts declined to testify at a hearing on supreme court ethics last year, amid a scandal over accusations of political influence and corruption aimed at Alito and Clarence Thomas, the two most conservative justices on the supreme court bench.“Until the court and the judicial conference take meaningful action to address this ongoing ethical crisis, we will continue our efforts to enact legislation to resolve this crisis,” Durbin and Whitehouse wrote.The American Legion US flag code states of the Stars and Stripes that “the flag should never be displayed with the union down, except as a signal of dire distress in instances of extreme danger to life or property”.The Associated Press contributed reporting More

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    Muscle memory and a fight to inspire: on the campaign trail with Biden

    “The fact is that this election, a lot is at stake,” said Joe Biden, collar unbuttoned, mic in hand, watched by about 50 guests at tables dotted with small US flags at Mary Mac’s Tea Room in downtown Atlanta. “It’s not about me. It’s about the alternative as well.”The off-the-cuff remark was telling. After more than half a century in national politics, Joe Biden’s final campaign is defined not by his record but his opponent: Donald Trump. The outcome of November’s presidential election will decide whether he is remembered by history as the man who saved democracy twice – or as a mere interregnum in the onward march of Trumpism.The Guardian spent a weekend with Biden on the campaign trail, shuttling from swing state to swing state on Air Force One and in presidential motorcades, from small gatherings of supporters to flashy receptions for big-money donors. It observed a candidate struggling to articulate an inspiring vision for a second term and recapture the kind of enthusiasm that Barack Obama once generated, but galvanised by the dire threat that Trump poses to his legacy.Biden understands that his long and storied career could yet end in failure. Surveys suggest that he is less popular than other members of his own party. Last week a swing-state opinion poll from the New York Times and Siena College found a generic Democratic Senate candidate led a generic Republican by five points, where Biden trailed Trump by six points.Specifically, Jacky Rosen of Nevada, Ruben Gallego of Arizona, Bob Casey of Pennsylvania and Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin were doing 14, 11, eight and seven points better than Biden in their respective states. Other polls have come up with similar findings that may tempt Democratic candidates to keep the president at arm’s length. Senator Jon Tester of Montana has already run an ad that says he “fought to stop President Biden from letting migrants stay in America instead of remain in Mexico”.A key reason for Biden’s weakness this time could be a lack of enthusiasm among African American voters, a demographic that powered Biden to the White House in 2020. A Pew Research report this week showed Biden leading Trump by 77% to 18% among Black voters – a shift from 2020 when Biden had 92% compared with Trump’s 8%. Among younger Black voters, Trump’s support crept up to 29%.Last weekend Biden flew on Air Force One to Georgia and Michigan, two critical battleground states, embracing a gruelling schedule that belied concerns about his 81 years. The first campaign stop was Mary Mac’s Tea Room in Atlanta, a historic Black-owned small business, where Biden-Harris campaign signs were plastered on a door.View image in fullscreenBiden’s entrance was greeted with applause and cheers that might be described as moderate rather than raucous. Some supporters and volunteers hugged him as he worked the room and music continued to boom from loudspeakers.He then took a handheld mic and spoke for five minutes without notes, like an ageing tennis player hitting shots from memory. “Look, here’s the deal,” he assured his audience. “You hear about how, you know, we’re behind in the polls. Well, so far, the polls haven’t been right once.”He said of Trump: “I think it’s fair to say – I won’t use the exact phrase that I’d use if I was still playing ball, but my opponent is not a good loser. But he is a loser.” The was an explosion of clapping and laughter. Biden himself chuckled. “Oh, I don’t want to get started. I’m going to get in trouble.”Turning serious, the president warned: “Everything you let me do, everything you helped me do, everything we’ve done, they want to undo … Our democracy is really on the line.”The speech was short on second-term promises but long on warnings about Trump, a familiar pattern. His next event was a significant shift up the wealth ladder: the Arthur M Blank Family office, home to a community-building foundation in a faux-Italian building with Roman-style mosaics.Biden delivered a speech in a room with an ornate ceiling – 15 illuminated recess panels and five chandeliers – and a floor of polished wood. Behind the lectern was a tapestry depicting birds in a bucolic setting. At either end of the room gold-framed mirrors hung above grand fireplaces. About a hundred well-heeled guests had gathered.When the president appeared, people stood, applauded, whooped and took photos. One woman shouted: “We love you, Joe!” This time he spoke for 18 minutes, beginning with relaxed humour: “Who’s that good-looking guy on the end there? How old are you?” The boy replied: “Thirteen, sir.” Biden said: “Thirteen. You got to remember me when you’re president, OK?”He again questioned the validity of polls while insisting that he was running strongest among likely voters and outperforming Trump in primary elections. Biden claimed that his team was building the strongest ground campaign in the history of the US, opening more than 150 field offices compared with Trump’s zero.The message of his campaign, he went on, was that the threat Trump poses is greater in a second term than it was in the first term. “When he lost in 2020, something snapped in Trump. I’m not being facetious; I’m being serious. He just can’t accept the fact he lost, and he lost it.” He accused his opponent of “running for revenge”.Biden listed some of his own accomplishments as president: 15m new jobs, an expansion of health insurance, lower prescription drug costs, climate action and investment in science and technology innovation. He promised that, if Democrats control Congress, he will restore the constitutional right to abortion. The room burst into applause. It seemed sure that dollars would follow.The president spent the night an upscale hotel in a tony neighbourhood then, the following morning, delivered a commencement address at Morehouse College, an all-male historically Black college. Democratic fears that he would be heckled and disrupted by protesters against the war in Gaza were not realised. But nor did Biden get the kind of adulatory reception that Obama might once have done.View image in fullscreenOn the college lawn, framed by redbrick buildings and trees, there was clapping and cheering from Morehouse alumni; less so from young graduates. Perhaps this was the worst fate of all: apathy. Jeremy Mensah, a 2024 graduate who voted for Biden in 2020 but is less sure this time, told the Politico website: “[Biden’s] speech didn’t move me at all. It was very much so a campaign speech. Like, ‘Oh I did this for the Black community.’ I didn’t feel connected to it.”Trump is leading Biden by 10 points in Georgia, according to last week’s New York Times/Siena College poll. Andra Gillespie, a political scientist at Emory University in Atlanta, said: “Black voters make up more than half of Democratic voters in Georgia and so if you have anemic turnout then it’s going to be difficult to stitch together a multi-racial coalition that is large enough to beat Republicans in the state.skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotion“That’s the challenge. Biden can’t afford to lose any constituency. If Black women and Black men don’t turn out at rates that they could possibly turn out to vote in the election then that will cause him to lose.”The president then headed to Detroit, Michigan, where the sun was bright and hot despite the swing state’s proximity to Canada. His motorcade swept from the airport past the Uniroyal Giant Tire, the world’s biggest tire model at 80ft and 12 tons, and into Detroit’s east side, one of the oldest parts of the city, dotted with both fading paint and glimmers of urban renewal.Biden was greeted by the Crawford family, including the former professional basketball players Joe and Jordan Crawford, who opened Cred Cafe as a family business that doubles as a coffee shop by day and a speakeasy by night. The room had bare brick walls, exposed silver air ducts and a ceiling made of rough wooden panels. Audio cassettes, CDs, VHS videos, XBox games, a guitar and a dartboard adorned the walls.Music played as Biden worked the room, meeting and greeting about 50 guests. He took a handheld mic and ad-libbed for four minutes. “We got three reverends back there,” he said. “I saw them at the airport. In addition to asking them to pray like hell for me, I asked their advice on a bunch of things.”View image in fullscreenBiden nodded to the African American vote by talking about his childhood in racially segregated Delaware. “Dr King was one of my heroes, like many of my generation.” The audience listened in polite silence, punctuated by the wailing of a baby. Biden recounted how he left law school, got a job with “fancy law firm”, then quit and became a public defender. “And one thing led to another, here I am.”The final stop was a National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) dinner at the cavernous Huntington Place Convention Center in Detroit, with bad acoustics and an estimated 5,000 guests. Some chanted, “Four more years! Four more years!” as the president took the stage. He declared: “I don’t feel tired. I feel inspired.”Biden said the NAACP was the first organisation he ever joined and he got involved in civil rights when he 15. He reeled off a list of accomplishments: cheques that reduced Black child poverty, reconnecting Black neighbourhoods cut off by old highways; removing lead pipes; investing a record $16bn in historically Black colleges and universities. Biden said Black unemployment was at a historic low and Black small businesses were starting up at the fastest rate in 30 years.He also asserted that the racial wealth gap was its lowest level in 20 years. This claim is open to dispute. According to data from the Federal Reserve’s survey of consumer finances, the wealth disparity between Black and white families has persistently grown since 2010. It increased by $49,950 during the coronavirus pandemic, resulting in a difference of $240,120 between the median white household and the median Black one.View image in fullscreenHe accused Trump and his allies of trying to erase Black history. “Let me ask you, what do you think he would’ve done on January the 6th if Black Americans had stormed the Capitol?” The question struck a chord with this audience, prompting gasps and murmurs. “No, I’m serious. What do you think? I can only imagine.”But Biden’s speech was littered with unforced errors. He recalled that as vice-president he tried to fix Detroit during the “pandemic” when he meant recession; he said he was humbled to receive an “organisation” when he meant award; he said the Affordable Care Act saves families “$8,000” a year in premiums when he meant $800; he referred to January 6 “irrectionists” when he meant insurrectionists; he said Trump had predicted “bloodshed” if he loses in November when he meant “bloodbath”.Still, the audience applauded warmly and soon he was back on Air Force One to Philadelphia, then flying by helicopter to Delaware, where he finally reached home at 11pm. There would be more flying and campaigning in the week to come. Joe Biden is an old political warhorse making one last big push, desperate to avoid the fate of one-term presidents such as Jimmy Carter and George HW Bush, who found the magic gone and incumbency a burden.It might not be enough.Larry Jacobs, director of the Center for the Study of Politics and Governance at the University of Minnesota, said: “He’s the most opaque presidential candidate in years: you might go back to George HW Bush, who blended into the background. Biden just doesn’t have magnetism. He’s charisma-challenged. For voters, you need to energise and rally and mobilise.“Even the orchestrated events with Biden mixing it up with the ordinary person, it’s remarkable how blasé they are. Bill Clinton going into a bar; Trump stopping by the Cuban restaurant in Miami – these are exciting moments for the supporters of those candidates. But the speech that Biden gave at Morehouse, there’s just utter lack of excitement, engagement. There’s a real powerful disconnect between Biden and the voters that he needs to turn out.” More

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    Trump ‘unified reich’ video reportedly traced to Turkish designer’s template

    A video posted on social media by Donald Trump referencing a “unified reich” has been traced to a template made by a Turkish designer more than a year ago, according to a report from CNN.Critics, including Joe Biden, condemned Trump over a video posted to his Truth Social account on Monday featuring a hypothetical headline from his second presidential term reading “industrial strength significantly increased … driven by the creation of a unified reich”.The German word “reich” is heavily associated with Nazism, as Adolf Hitler referred to his regime as the “Third Reich”. The video raised alarm for Trump critics, who note the former president frequently echoes Nazi rhetoric – particularly in his language surrounding immigration.According to a new report from CNN, the video was made using a template from graphic designer Enes Şimşek, who lives near Istanbul. The template was available on stock footage and video effects resource Video Hive and was created at least a year ago, the network reported, confirming that it was not created by the Trump campaign for this specific use.The Trump campaign stated the post was not an official campaign video and was reposted by a staffer who had not noticed the word.The campaign did not immediately respond to a request for additional comment.The language in the video was reportedly copied verbatim from a Wikipedia article on the first world war, which read: “German industrial strength and production had significantly increased after 1871, driven by the creation of a unified reich”.Şimşek confirmed to CNN he put in the Wikipedia information filler text for customers to replace with their own wording, which the video shared by Trump did not do. He said he had sold 16 copies of the template at a rate of $21 each.“When I was doing this job, I never even thought that one day such an event would happen,” Şimşek said in a blogpost explaining the incident. “[Two] days ago this template was used as Trump’s campaign video. But I guess they forgot to change some of the text when they edited the project. And things grew very mad.”Following Trump’s posting of the video, the Biden campaign cited other previous comments and actions from Trump sympathizing with Nazism, including his claims that Hitler “did some good things” and praising neo-Nazi marchers during the 2017 Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville.“Donald Trump is not playing games; he is telling America exactly what he intends to do if he regains power: rule as a dictator over a ‘unified reich’,” a Biden spokesperson, James Singer, said in a statement.“Parroting Mein Kampf while you warn of a bloodbath if you lose is the type of unhinged behavior you get from a guy who knows that democracy continues to reject his extreme vision of chaos, division and violence.”Şimşek was told by the video tool site to remove the language from his template, which he has now done. “By the way, thank you to Trump for choosing my template,” he said. More

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    RFK Jr attacks Trump and Biden as he makes 2024 pitch to Libertarian voters

    Robert Kennedy Jr, a longshot independent candidate for US president, has sought to woo Libertarian party voters by casting rivals Donald Trump and Joe Biden as enemies of individual freedom.Kennedy, 70, brought Libertarians to their feet by promising to pardon government whistleblower Edward Snowden, currently exiled in Russia, and drop espionage charges against Julian Assange, the WikiLeaks founder battling US attempts to extradite him from Britain.Founded in 1971, the Libertarian party is committed to limiting the size and scope of government, and gained 1.2% of the national vote in the 2020 presidential election. But with this year’s race looking tight, Kennedy, an anti-vaccine conspiracy theorist and environmental advocate, and Trump, the Republican nominee, are chasing votes at its its convention in Washington.Early in a 45-minute speech, Kennedy made light of the recent revelation that he had a brainworm more than a decade ago. Accusing past leaders of repeatedly encroaching on personal liberties, up to and including the coronavirus pandemic, he said to applause: “Maybe a brainworm ate that part of memory, but I don’t recall any part of the United States constitution where there is an exemption for pandemics.”Addressing a few hundred delegates, Kennedy accused Trump of allowing the government to abuse individual liberty during the pandemic. He said: “I think he had the right instinct when he came into office. He was initially very reluctant to impose lockdowns, but then he got rolled by his bureaucrats. He caved in and many of our most fundamental rights disappeared practically overnight.”Kennedy earned further applause when he asserted: “All of our constitutional rights were ploughed under. They closed all the churches but they kept open the Walmarts and the liquor stores.”He accused Trump of closing down 3.3m businesses. “President Trump said he was going to run America like a business, and he came in and he gave the keys to all of our businesses to a 50-year bureaucrat who’d never been elected to anything and had no accountability,” he said.Kennedy touched a nerve in his audience when he turned to the espionage charges against Assange, who this week won the right to bring a fresh appeal against his extradition, and National Security Agency (NSA) whistleblower Snowden. Each line was greeted with cheers and applause as he spoke.View image in fullscreen“President Trump also assaulted the first amendment and failed to defend press freedom when he continued President [Barack] Obama’s persecution and prosecution of Julian Assange,” he said. “Assange should be celebrated as a hero. He did exactly what journalists are supposed to do, which is to expose government corruption. We shouldn’t put him in prison; we should have a monument to him here in Washington DC.“The same is true of Edward Snowden … He’s a hero, not a criminal, and I’m going to tell you what I’m going to do. I’m going to do what President Trump should have done. On my first day in office, I’m going to pardon Edward Snowden and I’m going to drop charges – all charges – against Julian Assange.”The room erupted in roars of approval.Kennedy argued that he deserves a place on the debate stage with Biden and Trump, who have so far agreed to two TV debates without him. Opinion polls suggest that he could siphon votes from both men, with a May Reuters/ Ipsos survey showing he was supported by 13% of respondents.He went to take aim at the current president, too. “When President Trump left office, the assault on the constitution intensified. President Biden violated a freedom so fundamental that James Madison didn’t even think to put it in the Bill of Rights.”Kennedy accused Biden of “a programme of coercion and information control” during the pandemic, repeating unfounded claims that Biden colluded with the FBI to coerce social media sites to allow government agencies to carry out “an obscene orgy of federal censorship”. He said it went from “medical misinformation” to “an entire censorship industrial complex” that also suppresses critics of the war in Ukraine.Coronavirus vaccines were deemed safe and effective by the US government and its regulatory agencies as well as the World Health Organization. The first two years of Covid vaccines saved an estimated 3m lives in the US alone, according to a study published by the Commonwealth Fund.Kennedy has been criticised for making false medical claims over the years about vaccines. The son of Senator Robert F Kennedy, who was assassinated in 1968 during his own presidential bid, Kennedy has drawn rebukes from his famous family, who have publicly backed Biden. At his event on Friday, badges reminiscent of John F Kennedy’s 1960s campaign were placed on the seats.Kennedy, who chose wealthy lawyer Nicole Shanahan as his running mate, and who is officially on the ballot in seven states so far, supports Israel and has questioned a six-week ceasefire backed by Biden. On Friday, one delegate shouted: “Free Palestine! Free Palestine!” Kennedy replied: “Happy to talk afterwards.”View image in fullscreenThe candidate went on to pledge: “Murder is not OK anywhere in any form. That is why I will end the forever wars. The wars that have bankrupted our nation and ruined our reputation abroad.” There were cheers and shouts of “Yes!”Overall, Kennedy’s reception at the convention was warm, throwing down the gauntlet to Trump, who is due to speak on Saturday evening.Dan Belforti, a Libertarian party member wearing a “Kennedy 2024” T-shirt, said: “He’s libertarian enough. He’s actually better on the environment than the Libertarian party platform is. A true free market would price in the externalities of pollution but the Libertarian party doesn’t necessarily put that in their platform yet.”Belforti, 60, a retired financial adviser and former congressional candidate and radio host, also praised Kennedy’s vaccine scepticism. “He’s right. Well researched. It’s amazing to me how the the American press at least has demonised him as some kind of anti-vax extremist when in reality he’s a very sensible, reasonable, rational man, so it just goes to show you how powerful the pharmaceutical lobby is.”But Belforti, who lives in West Palm Beach, Florida, parts company with Kennedy on Gaza: “I don’t understand why he is supportive of Israel’s response to the terrorist attack. Around the world people would understand that you want to enact some kind of justice but I think what’s going on is so far overboard that I can’t support that policy. That’s the one issue I think Bobby Kennedy might be weakest on in this room.”Pendleton Spicer, 79, a musician and county elections official from Tucson, Arizona, has no intention of voting for Kennedy. “He just doesn’t represent my beliefs. I feel like he’s bought into the narrative about how horrible climate change is. I disagree with the narrative.”But she added: “I like his position on medical stuff – there’s plenty of science to say that the vaccines are dangerous – as long as he holds the position that we have freedom over our bodies, freedom of choice about what goes into our bodies.”Adrian Malagon, chair of the Libertarian party in California, said: “He’s a very interesting man. He’s great on medical freedom. There’s some things that he’s fantastic on. He doesn’t hold all libertarian positions but he is a fascinating man. I’ve had the privilege of meeting him, speaking with him and I very much like him.”Kennedy’s appearance was protested by progressive group MoveOn, which circulated a mobile billboard around the Libertarian National Convention in a push to argue that a vote for Kennedy is effectively a vote for Trump.Joel Payne, MoveOn’s political action chief communications officer, said: “As if we needed any more evidence, Kennedy Jr made it clear today that he should be nowhere near the Oval Office. It’s no surprise that Kennedy Jr and Trump are on the same stage this weekend. They already share the same views on restricting abortion access and spreading dangerous conspiracy theories.” More

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    State department announces $275m in new aid package for Ukraine – as it happened

    Here is a wrap-up of the day’s key events:
    The state department has announced a new aid package for Ukraine worth $275m. It includes ammunition for Himars (high mobility artillery rocket systems), 155mm and 105mm artillery rounds, tube-launched wire-guided missiles and javelin anti-armor systems.
    The secretary of defense, Lloyd Austin, will undergo a non-surgical procedure on Friday related to his prostate cancer, the Pentagon said. Austin will temporarily be unable to perform his duties due to the “minimally invasive procedure” and the deputy defense secretary, Kathleen Hicks, will assume his duties, the Pentagon said.
    Ahead of the fourth anniversary of George Floyd’s death, Joe Biden released a statement in which he called for Congress to pass the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act. The act, which seeks to address racial profiling and the use of force in police encounters, has been stalled in Congress for the last few years. However, it was reintroduced to Congress by Sheila Jackson, a Democratic representative from Texas, on Thursday.
    Joe Biden’s re-election campaign has released a new ad called Snapped. The ad criticizes Donald Trump, saying that he “snapped” after losing the 2020 election. It’s voiced by one of the former president’s longtime political foes, actor Robert De Niro.
    Speaking after a rally in New York City last night, his first in the city since 2016, Donald Trump predicted that he can win his home state – which happens to also be a historically and fiercely Democratic-voting one.
    Donald Trump hinted at the possibility of Nikki Haley joining his administration after she pledged her support to him following a bitter campaign against him for the Republican nomination for this election. “I think she’s going to be on our team because we have a lot of the same ideas, the same thoughts,” Trump told News 12.
    The New York Democratic congressman and Bronx native Ritchie Torres hit back at Trump for his rally in the south Bronx yesterday, saying: “His presidency was a catastrophe for the Bronx. His mismanagement of Covid resulted in more deaths than Pearl Harbor and 9/11 combined. Donald Trump should apologize to the people of the Bronx rather than hold a rally.”
    Thousands of Trump supporters came out to Crotona Park in New York’s south Bronx on Thursday evening to support the former president as he rallied for nearly 90 minutes. In attempts to woo more Black and Hispanic voters in one of the country’s poorest and most diverse neighborhoods, Trump launched fiery tirades against immigrants and Biden’s immigration policies. He claimed migrants were “building an army” to attack America “from within”.
    That’s it as we wrap up the blog for today. Thank you for following along.Russian jamming technology has reportedly interfered with US-made satellite-guided ammunition in Ukraine.The Washington Post, which reviewed confidential internal Ukrainian assessments, reports:“Russia’s jamming of the guidance systems of modern Western weapons, including Excalibur GPS-guided artillery shells and the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System, or HIMARS, which can fire some U.S.-made rockets with a range of up to 50 miles, has eroded Ukraine’s ability to defend its territory and has left officials in Kyiv urgently seeking help from the Pentagon to obtain upgrades from arms manufacturers.Russia’s ability to combat the high-tech munitions has far-reaching implications for Ukraine and its Western supporters – potentially providing a blueprint for adversaries such as China and Iran – and it is a key reason Moscow’s forces have regained the initiative and are advancing on the battlefield.”The US secretary of defense, Lloyd Austin, will undergo a non-surgical procedure on Friday related to his prostate cancer, the Pentagon said.Austin will undergo the procedure at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center later this evening.Austin will temporarily be unable to perform his duties due to the “minimally invasive procedure” and the deputy secretary of defense, Kathleen Hicks, will assume his duties, the Pentagon said.Ahead of the fourth anniversary of George Floyd’s death, Joe Biden released a statement in which he called for Congress to pass the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act.Biden said:
    His murder shook the conscience of our nation and reminded us that our country has never fully lived up to its highest ideal of fair and impartial justice for all under the law.
    He went on to add:
    What we witnessed as a result was one of the largest modern civil rights movements in our nation’s history, with people from every background marching together against racism and systemic injustice.
    Two years ago, alongside George Floyd’s family, civil rights leaders and law enforcement officials, I signed an executive order to implement key aspects of the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act with respect to federal law enforcement, including: restricting chokeholds and no-knock warrants, and establishing a database for police misconduct – all measures to advance effective, transparent and accountable policing.My administration has made significant progress in implementing this executive order, and will continue our work to build public trust and strengthen public safety. But real and lasting change at the state and local level will only come when Congress acts. That’s why I will continue to urge Congress to send the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, which ensures law enforcement accountability, to my desk.
    The act, which seeks to address racial profiling and the use of force in police encounters, has been stalled in Congress for the last few years. However, it was reintroduced to Congress by Sheila Jackson, a Democratic representative from Texas, on Thursday.In response to the bill’s reintroduction, the American Civil Liberties Union said:
    The American Civil Liberties Union welcomes the reintroduction of this important legislation; however, the ACLU calls on Congress to strengthen and improve portions of the bill to provide the federal interventions necessary to address police misconduct and brutality.
    The state department has released the following statement on the latest aid package for Ukraine:
    The United States is announcing today a significant new drawdown of weapons and equipment for Ukraine to support the brave Ukrainian people as they defend their country against Russia’s aggression.
    This $275 million package … is part of our efforts to help Ukraine repel Russia’s assault near Kharkiv.”
    In addition to Himars ammunition, artillery rounds, missiles, javelins and anti-armor systems, the aid includes precision aerial munitions; small arms; tactical vehicles; body armor; chemical, biological, radiological anf nuclear protective equipment; and spare parts.With the latest package being the fifth aid package the Joe Biden administration has authorised since signing the national security supplemental, the state department said it plans to “move this new assistance as quickly as possible”.
    As President Biden has made clear, the United States and the international coalition we have assembled will continue to stand with Ukraine in its defense of its freedom.
    The state department has announced a new aid package for Ukraine that is worth $275m, Reuters reports.The aid package includes ammunition for Himars (high mobility artillery rocket systems), 155mm and 105mm artillery rounds, tube-launched wire-guided missiles and javelin anti-armor systems, according to the state department.Egypt and the United States agreed on Friday to temporarily send humanitarian aid to the United Nations in Gaza via Israel’s Kerem Shalom crossing until legal mechanisms are established to reopen the Rafah border crossing from the Palestinian side, the Egyptian presidency said, Reuters reports.The agreement resulted from:
    The difficult humanitarian situation of the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, the lack of means of life in the Strip, and the lack of fuel needed for hospitals and bakeries,” said the statement.
    The agreement was reached in a phone call between the US president and Egyptian president Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, the statement said.Egypt on Monday warned against Israel’s continued military operations in Rafah, which were preventing aid deliveries to the impoverished Strip.Much of the aid delivered into Gaza since the conflict between Israel and Hamas began in October has come through Egypt, entering through the southern Gaza city of Rafah or the nearby Kerem Shalom crossing on Israel’s border with the Palestinian territory.Since May 5, just before Israeli forces took control of the Rafah crossing from the Palestinian side, no trucks have crossed through Rafah and very few through Kerem Shalom, according to UN data. Sisi and Biden also agreed to intensify international efforts to being a ceasefire.The Guardian’s Middle East live blog is here.Hunter Biden is back in court today for the final hearing before he’s expected to stand trial on federal firearms charges in Delaware as his father’s re-election campaign unfolds, the Associated Press reports.Joe Biden’s son didn’t speak to reporters as he followed his lawyers into the Wilmington courthouse. He’s charged with lying about his drug use in October 2018 on a form to buy a gun that he kept for about 11 days in Delaware. He has acknowledged an addiction to crack cocaine during that period, but his lawyers have said he didn’t break the law and the case is politically motivated.The two sides have been arguing in court documents about evidence in the case, including contents from a laptop that he allegedly dropped off at a Delaware repair shop. Defense attorneys question the authenticity of the laptop’s data in court documents, but prosecutors say that there’s no evidence the data has been compromised.Prosecutors plan to show jurors portions of Hunter Biden’s 2021 memoir Beautiful Things in which he detailed his struggle with alcoholism and drug abuse following the 2015 death of his older brother, Beau, of brain cancer at age 46. Biden’s lawyers are objecting.US district judge Maryellen Noreika will preside over what’s expected to be the last hearing before the trial, which is expected to begin with jury selection on 3 June.Hunter Biden is also facing federal tax charges in Los Angeles and is set for trial in that case in September.Hello, politics live blog readers, as we approach what is a holiday weekend in the US, ahead of the Trump trial resuming in New York with closing arguments on Tuesday, there is still news coming out of Washington and elsewhere.We’ll bring it to you as it happens. For now, here’s where things stand:
    Joe Biden’s re-election campaign has released a new ad called Snapped, which criticizes Donald Trump, saying that he “snapped” after losing the 2020 election. It’s voiced by one of the former president’s longtime political foes, actor Robert De Niro.
    Speaking after a rally in New York City last night, his first in the city since 2016, Donald Trump predicted that he can win his home state – which happens to also be a historically and fiercely Democratic-voting one.
    Donald Trump hinted at the possibility of Nikki Haley joining his administration after she pledged her support to him following a bitter campaign against him for the Republican nomination for this election. “I think she’s going to be on our team because we have a lot of the same ideas, the same thoughts,” Trump told News 12.
    The New York Democratic congressman and Bronx native Ritchie Torres hit back at Trump for his rally in the south Bronx yesterday, saying: “His presidency was a catastrophe for the Bronx. His mismanagement of Covid resulted in more deaths than Pearl Harbor and 9/11 combined. Donald Trump should apologize to the people of the Bronx rather than hold a rally.”
    Thousands of Trump supporters came out to Crotona Park in New York’s south Bronx on Thursday evening to support the former president as he rallied for nearly 90 minutes. In attempts to woo more Black and Hispanic voters in one of the country’s poorest and most diverse neighborhoods, Trump launched fiery tirades against immigrants and Biden’s immigration policies. He claimed migrants were “building an army” to attack America “from within”.
    Ohio’s governor, Mike DeWine, has called for a special legislative session to include Joe Biden on the election ballot.Robert Tait reports for the Guardian:Ohio’s Republican governor, Mike DeWine, has called an emergency legislative session to put Joe Biden’s name on the presidential ballot after what he called an “absurd” threat from the state’s top election officer to remove the president for missing its deadline.For weeks, Ohio’s secretary of state, Frank LaRose, has been at loggerheads with the Democrats over how to put Biden and his vice-president, Kamala Harris, on the ballot given that their official nomination comes after the expiry of the state’s deadline of 90 days before the November election.The Biden-Harris ticket is scheduled to be certified after its official coronation on the final day of the Democratic national convention on 22 August in Chicago, 15 days after Ohio’s 7 August cutoff date.For the full story, click here:Joe Biden’s campaign has released a new ad called Snapped, which criticizes Donald Trump, saying that he “snapped” after losing the 2020 election.Actor and fierce Trump critic Robert De Niro voices the 30-second ad, saying:
    From midnight tweets, to drinking bleach, to tear-gassing citizens and staging a photo op, we knew Trump was out of control when he was president, and then he lost the 2020 election and snapped.
    Desperately trying to hold on to power. Now he’s running again, this time threatening to be a dictator, to terminate the constitution.
    The ad features a clip of Trump saying that there will be a “bloodbath” if he does not win in 2024.“Trump wants revenge and he’ll stop at nothing to get it,” De Niro continues.Describing the ad, Biden’s campaign manager, Julie Chavez Rodriguez, said:
    This ad lays out the clear contrast voters will see a month from now when Trump stands on the debate stage next to Joe Biden: Trump is running to regain power for himself, Joe Biden is running to serve you, the American people.
    Kamala Harris has released the following statement regarding the second anniversary of the Uvalde, Texas, shooting in which 21 people, including 19 children, were shot and killed:
    Two years ago, 19 beautiful children and two selfless teachers were killed in their classrooms during a senseless mass shooting carried out with a weapon of war …
    In the months and years since these 21 Americans lost their lives and 17 others were injured, the families in Uvalde have powerfully channeled their anguish into advocacy – demanding action to change the unacceptable fact that gun violence is the leading cause of death for children in our nation.
    Congress and state legislators throughout America must have the courage to act by banning assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, passing red flag laws, and making background checks universal.
    Bernie Sanders, who spoke exclusively to the Guardian, has introduced a bill to improve dental care among Americans, particularly amid the prevalence of gum disease in the US and one in five US seniors having lost all their natural teeth.The Guardian’s Jessica Glenza reports:A bill introduced by the US senator Bernie Sanders would dramatically expand access to oral healthcare by adding dental benefits to Medicare and enhance them in Medicaid, public health insurance programs that together cover 115 million older and lower-income Americans.Despite Americans’ reputation for the flashy “Hollywood smile”, millions struggle to access basic dental care. One in five US seniors have lost all their natural teeth, almost half of adults have some kind of gum disease and painful cavities are one of the most common reasons children miss school.“Any objective look at the reality facing the American people recognizes there is a crisis in dental care in America,” Sanders told the Guardian in an exclusive interview. “Imagine that in the richest country in the world.”For the full story, click here:Speaking to Fox News during yesterday’s south Bronx rally, Donald Trump remained confident that he can win his home state, which happens to also be a historically and fiercely Democratic one.
    “I love the people … They’re entrepreneurial and they’re going to save New York … We’re gonna win New York. And if we win New York, the election’s over. We take over the country,.
    The Biden-Harris campaign has released a new statement on campaign priorities and talking points ahead of the debate between Joe Biden and Donald Trump in Atlanta, Georgia, on 27 June:
    In the month leading up to that first debate, the Biden-Harris campaign will zero in on Trump’s dangerous campaign promises and unhinged rhetoric. We will make sure that the voters who will decide this election are reminded of the chaos and harm Trump caused as president – and why they booted him out four years ago.
    Trump and his lagging campaign will be left to explain to voters why he embraces political violence, brags about abortion bans, threatens to repeal the Affordable Care Act and cut Social Security and Medicare, and puts greedy corporations and himself over American workers again and again.
    Team Biden-Harris will drive these key themes across the entire campaign in the lead-up to the debate, including through new paid media efforts, earned media opportunities, and on the ground organizing and battleground events to bring the stakes of this election to every voter who will decide it.
    The campaign also said it plans to organize around key moments including the anniversary of the 2022 Dobbs decision in which the supreme court stripped away federal abortion protections, as well as the anniversary of the Pulse nightclub shooting in Orlando, Florida, where 49 people were shot and killed in 2016.At his rally, Donald Trump hinted at the possibility of Nikki Haley joining his administration after she pledged her support to him following a bitter campaign against him.“I think she’s going to be on our team because we have a lot of the same ideas, the same thoughts,” Trump told News 12.“I appreciated what she said. You know, we had a nasty campaign, it was pretty nasty. But she’s a very capable person, and I’m sure she’s going to be on our team in some form, absolutely,” he added.During her campaign trail, the former South Carolina governor criticized Trump numerous times, accusing him of having “lost any sort of political viability” and showing “moral weakness”.Yet on Wednesday, Haley revealed she would be voting for Trump, saying: “Trump has not been perfect on these policies … But Biden has been a catastrophe. So I will be voting for Trump.”New York Democratic representative and Bronx native Ritchie Torres hit back at Donald Trump for his rally in the south Bronx yesterday.
    His presidency was a catastrophe for the Bronx. His mismanagement of Covid resulted in more deaths than Pearl Harbor and 9/11 combined.
    Donald Trump should apologize to the people of the Bronx rather than hold a rally.
    Donald Trump’s rally in New York’s south Bronx on Thursday evening drew a significantly more diverse crowd compared to his typical white-majority rallies in other parts of the country.The Guardian’s Ed Pilkington reports:Up to a quarter of the thousands of people who came to hear him (the New York City parks department said Trump’s campaign had a permit for up to 3,500 people) were Hispanic or Black. Some of the supporters wore their Make America Great Again politics proudly on their sleeves.“I’m a Black dyed-in-the-wool Republican,” read one T-shirt. A group of three Hispanic women waiting for the secret service to screen them at the start of the evening chanted “Trumpito!” “Trumpito!” as they danced to the official theme song of Trump Latinos.Theo Diakite, 29, an African American who lives close to the park, said he was drawn to the rally out of curiosity. He has never voted in his life, but this year is feeling tempted to back Trump.He has noticed that other people in his neighborhood share that curiosity. “There are a lot of people who were firm against him in 2020, but are now not so sure.”For the full story, click here:Thousands of Donald Trump supporters came out to Crotona Park in New York’s south Bronx on Thursday evening to support the former president as he rallied for nearly 90 minutes.In attempts to woo Black and Hispanic voters in one of the country’s poorest and most diverse neighborhoods, Trump launched fiery tirades against immigrants and Joe Biden’s immigration policies.“African Americans are getting slaughtered. Hispanic Americans are getting slaughtered,” Trump said, adding that the flow of migrants into New York is hurting “our Black population and our Hispanic population, who are losing their jobs, losing their housing, losing everything they can lose”. At one point, Trump even accused migrants of wanting “to get us from within”, saying: “I think they’re building an army.”In response to Trump, the crowd whooped and cheered, with many at one point breaking into chants of “Build the wall!” and “Send them back!”Trump also responded to former Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley, who said earlier this week that she would vote for him in November. “I think she’s going to be on our team,” Trump said, adding: “I appreciated what she said.”Despite Trump’s legal woes and Biden’s handling of the border crisis, it appears that inflation is the biggest concern among voters. “The cost of living defines this election,” writes Amy Walter and David Wasserman in the Cook Political Report. A new poll by the Guardian and Harris released this week found nearly three in five Americans wrongly believe the country is in an economic recession, with the majority blaming Biden.Here are other developments in US politics: More