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      Republican senator calls Trump’s military airstrikes ‘extrajudicial killings’

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      The Trump administration’s military airtrikes against boats off Venezuela’s coast that the White House claims were being used for drug trafficking are “extrajudicial killings”, said Rand Paul, the president’s fellow Republican and US senator from Kentucky.Paul’s strong comments on the topic came on Sunday during an interview on Republican-friendly Fox News, three days after Donald Trump publicly claimed he “can’t imagine” federal lawmakers would have “any problem” with the strikes when asked about seeking congressional approval for them.US forces in recent weeks have carried out at least eight strikes against boats in the Caribbean off Venezuela’s coast, killing about 40 people that the Trump administration has insisted were involved in smuggling drugs.Speaking with Fox News Sunday anchor Shannon Bream, Paul asserted that Congress has “gotten no information” on the campaign of strikes from Trump’s administration – despite the president claiming the White House would be open to briefing the federal lawmakers about the offensive.“No one said their name, no one said what evidence, no one said whether they’re armed, and we’ve had no evidence presented,” Paul said of the targeted boats or those on board. He argued that the Trump administration’s actions bring to mind the way China and Iran’s repressive governments have previously executed drug smugglers.“They summarily execute people without presenting evidence to the public,” Paul contended in his conversation with Bream. “So it’s wrong.”Paul’s comments separate him from other Republican members of Congress who have spoken in favor of the Trump administration’s offensive near Venezuela, including US House representative Bernie Moreno of Ohio and Senator Cynthia Loomis of Wyoming, as reported by the US news website Semafor.The Kentucky libertarian joined Democratic US senators Tim Kaine of Virginia and Adam Schiff of California in introducing a war powers resolution that would have blocked the Trump administration’s use of military strikes within or against Venezuela. But the measure failed to win a majority in the Senate.Trump on Friday told the media that his administration would be willing to brief lawmakers on the strikes but simply saw no reason to seek congressional authorization for them.“I think we’re just gonna kill people that are bringing drugs into our country, OK?” Trump said. “We’re going to kill them. They’re going to be – like – dead.”Paul has had military-related disagreements with Trump before his Sunday interview on Fox.Trump telegraphed his intent to use the US military to support his administration’s goals of deporting immigrants en masse before he won his second presidency in the 2024 election. After Trump’s second electoral victory but before he retook the Oval Office in January, Paul said he believed using the military in support of deportation was “illegal” and a task better suited for US law enforcement. “It’s a terrible image, and I … oppose that,” Paul said at the time. More

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      Trump news at a glance: administration accused of attack on free speech after British journalist detained

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      The council of American-Islamic relations (Cair) has accused the Trump administration of a “blatant affront to free speech” after federal immigration authorities detained British journalist, Sami Hamdi, on Sunday.The Muslim civil rights organization claimed that Hamdi had been detained at San Fransisco airport for criticising Israel’s ongoing military campaign in Gaza. Hamdi is one of several people who have been arrested and deported by ICE for expressing pro-Palestinian views.The Department of Homeland Security said that Hamdi’s visa had been revoked, and that he was in ICE custody “pending removal”.ICE detains British journalist after criticism of Israel on US tourBritish journalist Sami Hamdi was reportedly detained on Sunday morning by federal immigration authorities at San Francisco international airport, and the Council on American-Islamic Relations (Cair) says that action is apparent retaliation for the Muslim political commentator’s criticism of Israel while touring the US.A statement from Cair said it was “a blatant affront to free speech” to detain Hamdi for criticizing Israel’s ongoing military campaign in Gaza while he engaged on a speaking tour in the US. A Trump administration official added in a separate statement that Hamdi is facing deportation.Read the full storyTrump told Pence ‘you’ll go down as a wimp’ in January 6 phone call, book saysOn the day that his supporters attacked the US Capitol because his 2020 re-election run ended in defeat, Donald Trump called his vice-president at the time, Mike Pence, and told him he would go down in history as a “wimp” if he certified the election result, a new book says.Those details were revealed on Sunday when ABC News published a preview excerpt of an upcoming book by its political correspondent Jonathan Karl. The book, titled Retribution, cites Pence’s notes from the 6 January 2021 phone call with Trump, who was purportedly trying to shame his vice-president into refusing to certify Joe Biden’s victory weeks earlier in the White House.Read the full storyGavin Newsom confirms he is considering 2028 presidential runGavin Newsom, California’s Democratic governor, told CBS News Sunday Morning he plans to make a decision on whether to run for president in 2028 once the 2026 midterm elections are over.“Yeah, I’d be lying otherwise,” Newsom said in response to a question on whether he would give serious thought to a White House bid after the 2026 elections. “I’d just be lying. And I’m not – I can’t do that.”Read the full storyUS and China reach ‘final deal’ on TikTok sale, treasury secretary saysUS treasury secretary Scott Bessent claimed on Sunday that the US and China have finalized the details of a deal transferring TikTok’s US version to new owners.“We reached a final deal on TikTok,” Bessent said on Sunday on CBS’s Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan. Alluding to Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, Bessent continued: “We reached [a deal] in Madrid, and I believe that as of today, all the details are ironed out, and that will be for the two leaders to consummate that transaction” during a meeting scheduled for Thursday in Korea.Read the full storyTrump’s move to pay troops amid shutdown sets dangerous precedent, experts warnBy ordering that US military personnel receive paychecks even though the government is shut down, Donald Trump is seeing to the needs of a politically untouchable constituency that has been caught up in the congressional logjam over federal spending.Read the full storyWhat else happened today:

      US airports report over 20 air traffic controller shortage incidents in one day

      Interested in New York’s mayoral race? Read this feature on Jewish New York’s reckoning with Zohran Mamdani and his outreach to the Jewish community
      Catching up? Here’s what happened Saturday 25 October. More

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      ICE detains British journalist after criticism of Israel on US tour

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      British journalist Sami Hamdi was reportedly detained on Sunday morning by federal immigration authorities at San Francisco international airport, and the Council on American-Islamic Relations (Cair) says that action is apparent retaliation for the Muslim political commentator’s criticism of Israel while touring the US.A statement from Cair said it was “a blatant affront to free speech” to detain Hamdi for criticizing Israel’s ongoing military campaign in Gaza while he engaged on a speaking tour in the US. A Trump administration official added in a separate statement that Hamdi is facing deportation.“Our attorneys and partners are working to address this injustice,” Cair’s statement said. The statement also called on US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) “to immediately account for and release Mr Hamdi”, saying his only “‘crime’ is criticizing a foreign government” that Cair accused of having “committed genocide”.The press secretary for the Department of Homeland Security, Tricia McLaughlin, wrote of Hamdi in a social media post: “This individual’s visa was revoked, and he is in ICE custody pending removal”.McLaughlin’s post also said: “Those who support terrorism and undermine American national security will not be allowed to work or visit this country.”During his tour, Hamdi spoke on Saturday at the annual gala for Cair’s chapter in Sacramento. He was expected to speak on Sunday at the gala for the Florida chapter of Cair.McLaughlin’s post about Hamdi’s detention was shared by Trump administration ally Laura Loomer, who took credit for his being taken into custody.Loomer, who has called herself a “white advocate” and a “proud Islamophobe”, has often peddled conspiracy theories such as endorsing claims that the September 11 terrorist attacks in 2001 were an “inside job”.In 2018, she infamously chained herself to Twitter’s headquarters in New York City in protest of her account being banned. Billionaire businessman Elon Musk reinstated her account after he bought the social media platform in 2022.“As a direct result of … my relentless pressure on the [state department] and Department of Homeland Security, US officials have now moved to take action against Hamdi’s visa status, and his continued presence in this country,” Loomer posted on social media.Hamdi is the latest of numerous immigrants who have been arrested and deported by ICE over pro-Palestinian views. Earlier in October, journalist Mario Guevara was deported to El Salvador after having been detailed while live streaming the massive, anti-Trump No Kings protest in June.On 30 September, a federal judge appointed during Ronald Reagan’s presidency ruled the administration’s policy to detain and deport foreign scholars over pro-Palestinian views violates the US constitution and was designed to “intentionally” chill free speech rights.The ruling is bound to be appealed, possibly all the way to the US supreme court, which is dominated by a conservative supermajority made possible by three Trump appointments. The state department, meanwhile, has said it will continue revoking visas under the policy. More

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      Gavin Newsom confirms he is considering 2028 presidential run

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      Gavin Newsom, California’s Democratic governor, told CBS News Sunday Morning he plans to make a decision on whether to run for president in 2028 once the 2026 midterm elections are over.“Yeah, I’d be lying otherwise,” Newsom said in response to a question on whether he would give serious thought to a White House bid after the 2026 elections. “I’d just be lying. And I’m not – I can’t do that.”Newsom’s term as governor ends in January 2027 and he is not able to run again due to term limits, but cautioned that a decision is years away.“Fate will determine that,” he said.The California governor has emerged as a high-profile critic of the Trump administration through his social media accounts and push of a ballot measure that would increase Democrats’ congressional seats in response to Republican redistricting efforts – a move that has made him a target for critics.Donald Trump’s secretary of transportation, Sean Duffy, accused Newsom of not caring about Californians in an interview with Fox News on Sunday as Duffy revealed plans to pull federal funds from California and threatened to revoke California’s ability to issue commercial driver’s licenses.“I’m about to pull $160m from California,” Duffy said, after US homeland security said earlier this week an undocumented semi truck driver caused a fatal crash in California that killed three people and injured four. Newsom’s office noted the federal government reauthorized the driver’s employment multiple times, which allowed him to obtain a commercial drivers license under federal law.Duffy already said he was withholding $40m from California for not enforcing English language requirements for truck drivers.“Former D-list reality star, now Secretary of Transportation, still doesn’t understand federal law,” Newsom’s office said in a statement last month in response to Duffy threatening to withhold federal funds from the state. “In the meantime, unlike this clown, we’ll stick to the facts: California commercial driver’s license holders had a fatal crash rate nearly 40% LOWER than the national average. Texas – the only state with more commercial holders – has a rate almost 50% higher than California. Facts don’t lie. The Trump administration does.”A CBS poll conducted earlier this month found 72% of Democrats and 48% of all registered voters said Newsom should run for president in 2028. Since Trump took office, Newsom’s favorability has increased to an average of 33.5% from about 30% and his unfavorability has decreased from an average of over 40% to 38.4%, according to Decision Desk HQ.Earlier this year, Newsom told CBS while on a trip to several battleground states around the US on whether he plans to run in 2028: “I have no idea.”He noted his earlier challenges in life, including being diagnosed with dyslexia at the age of five.“The idea that a guy who got 960 on his SAT, that still struggles to read scripts, that was always in the back of the classroom, the idea that you would even throw that out is, in and of itself, extraordinary,” he said. “Who the hell knows? I’m looking forward to who presents themselves in 2028 and who meets that moment. And that’s the question for the American people.” More

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      Trump told Pence ‘you’ll go down as a wimp’ in January 6 phone call, book says

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      On the day that his supporters attacked the US Capitol because his 2020 re-election run ended in defeat, Donald Trump called his vice-president at the time, Mike Pence, and told him he would go down in history as a “wimp” if he certified the election result, a new book says.Those details were revealed on Sunday when ABC News published a preview excerpt of an upcoming book by its political correspondent Jonathan Karl. The book, titled Retribution, cites Pence’s notes from the 6 January 2021 phone call with Trump, who was purportedly trying to shame his vice-president into refusing to certify Joe Biden’s victory weeks earlier in the White House.“If you do that, I made a big mistake five years ago,” Trump is said to have told Pence, who was his running mate when he won his first presidency in 2016. “You’ll go down as a wimp.”According to Retribution, before he ultimately fulfilled his duty of certifying Biden’s victory, Pence’s notes maintain that he told Trump both had taken “an oath to support + defend the constitution”.“It doesn’t take courage to break the law,” Pence’s notes portray him as saying to Trump. “It takes courage to uphold the law.”The notes cited in Retribution say Trump also reportedly told Pence, “You listen to the wrong people.”Pence has publicly said that he certified Biden’s victory, despite Trump’s wishes, because he knew he had no legal right to overturn Trump’s electoral defeat at the hands of Biden. That stand came as Trump and his allies brazenly pushed lies that electoral fraudsters had rigged the 2020 election in Biden’s favor, leading to his victory.A mob of Trump supporters eventually stormed the US Capitol, unsuccessfully demanding Pence’s hanging and delaying the joint congressional session certifying Biden’s victory by several hours.Federal authorities later charged Trump with working to forcibly reverse his defeat in the 2020 election ahead of the Capitol attack, though that prosecution was derailed when he won the 2024 presidential race. As Retribution pointed out, prosecutors considered Pence’s notes as key evidence of the hours before the attack.Prosecutors did convict or at least criminally charge more than 1,500 other people who were attributed roles in the January 6 attack, which a bipartisan US Senate committee linked to several deaths, including the suicides of law enforcement officers who defended the Capitol that day.Then in January, in one of Trump’s first acts back in the Oval Office after he defeated Kamala Harris – Biden’s vice-president – in the 2024 presidential election, he pardoned or commuted the sentences of all linked to the Capitol attack.JD Vance was Trump’s running mate when the latter man won his second presidency and summarily ignited warnings about the US’s “trajectory” toward authoritarian rule, according to an assessment from former intelligence and national security officials. Pence did not pursue public office during that election cycle.The Retribution excerpt arrived days after Steve Bannon, who was chief White House strategist during Trump’s first presidency, said in an interview with the Economist that he predicted Trump would get “a third term” in 2028 despite being barred by the US constitution.“People ought to just get accommodated with that,” said Bannon, who touted a “plan” purportedly to be laid out later that would circumvent the constitutional amendment limiting US presidents to two terms.Bannon’s comments echoed those of others aligned with Trump, along with the president himself, who has previously made threats about their being “methods” – and possibly even unspecified “plans” – to keep him in office no matter the constitution. More

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      Would a written constitution save Britain from the far right? | Letters

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      George Monbiot is right that having a written constitution would be better than not having one if the far right takes power (We must act now: without a written constitution, Reform UK will have carte blanche to toxify our nation, 23 October). But, as he points out, it’s not a guarantee of sane government. At least 75% of what Donald Trump is doing is unconstitutional, but it’s permitted by a compliant Congress and a rubber-stamp supreme court that is suddenly discovering presidential powers in the constitution that its framers never intended. The true problem is that a large proportion of the US electorate is content to let this happen.Marina Hyde noted the same trend here – too many people are so dischuffed (some with good cause, some not) that they are willing to press the “F you” button and smash the system. In 1795, as the first US government was getting under way, the writer Samuel Miller commented that “political prosperity resides, not in the words and letters of the constitution; but in the temper, the habits, and the practices of the people”. With or without a constitution, there needs to be peaceful civic resistance to a future extremist regime until more people are persuaded that a humane and tolerant government is worth having.Peter Loschi Oldham, Greater Manchester George Monbiot advocates a written constitution to defend against the threat of Reform UK. Do we really believe that it will win 40%-plus of votes and a majority of seats in a general election? I know it may be dangerous to dismiss it as a protest vote, but I can’t believe that.I was reading an entry from Alan Bennett’s Writing Home recently, where he opined that if Labour fought an election on the state of the NHS alone it would surely win hands down. Still true. Yet it is desperate to engage Reform on its home ground. I can’t believe people think that migration and cutting public services are the country’s biggest priorities.Ray FloodDundee George Monbiot calls for a written British constitution to be created through “a citizens’ constitutional convention”, with “participatory events all over the country”. But such events are likely to be dominated by people like him – educated, activist-minded liberals – whose values would then shape the constitution. Views that clash with theirs would be excluded by a process controlled by similar voices. In wanting to make his own values permanent, Monbiot shows an instinct not unlike Nigel Farage’s – both seek to enshrine their worldviews as the national default.Nathon RaineBradford George Monbiot says we urgently need constitutional change – there is an immediate opportunity for citizens to contribute to this agenda. The public bill committee reviewing the English devolution and community empowerment bill is welcoming submissions right now. In the evidence I submitted, published on the parliamentary website, I point out how the rise of far-right extremist groups gives renewed urgency to the importance of providing constitutional protection for all elected local authorities in England.It is a simple step for such a clause to be added to the bill. I explain how countries that outperform the UK on economic, social and environmental indicators, for example, Sweden, already enjoy such protections.Robin HambletonEmeritus professor, University of the West of England More

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      US and China reach ‘final deal’ on TikTok sale, treasury secretary says

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      US treasury secretary Scott Bessent claimed on Sunday that the US and China have finalized the details of a deal transferring TikTok’s US version to new owners.“We reached a final deal on TikTok,” Bessent said on Sunday on CBS’s Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan. Alluding to Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, Bessent continued: “We reached [a deal] in Madrid, and I believe that as of today, all the details are ironed out, and that will be for the two leaders to consummate that transaction” during a meeting scheduled for Thursday in Korea.Bessent did not disclose any details of the deal. But he did say it was a part of a broader framework – agreed to by both the US and China – of a potential trade deal to be discussed when Trump and Xi meet in the coming days.The comments from Bessent came after Trump signed an executive order on 25 September paving the way for a deal for new ownership based in the US, with a majority of American investors.“I’m not part of the commercial side of the transaction,” Bessent added. “My remit was to get the Chinese to agree to approve the transaction, and I believe we successfully accomplished that over the past two days.”Trump’s 19-year-old son, Barron Trump, has been floated by the president’s former social media producer Jack Advent as a potential board member. Trump has indicated new US investors include conservative media owners Rupert Murdoch and Larry Ellison.In 2020, during his first presidency, Trump threatened to ban TikTok in 2020 in retaliation for China’s handling of Covid-19.Congress passed a ban of the app before it was signed into law in April 2024 by Joe Biden when he was president in between Trump’s two terms. It was set to go into effect on 20 January 2025 but was extended four times by Trump while his administration worked to develop a deal to transfer ownership.The deal is estimated to be valued at $14bn. The majority of US and international investors will own about 65% of the company, with ByteDance and Chinese investors owning less than a 20% stake.Trump’s executive order hands oversight of the app’s algorithm to the new investors, including six out of seven seats on the board of directors.Trump arrived in Malaysia on Sunday for a summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, as part of a five-day tour of the continent, with an expected face-to-face meeting between Trump and Xi on Thursday.The two are expected to discuss soybean and agricultural purchases from US farmers, trade balance, and the American fentanyl crisis, which was cited as the basis for Trump’s 20% tariffs on Chinese imports. More