US Politics

Subterms

    More stories

    • 150 Shares159 Views

      in US Politics

      Will a disputed North Carolina race push defeated candidates to contest results?

      by

      A disputed North Carolina state supreme court race that took nearly six months to resolve revealed a playbook for future candidates who lose elections to retroactively challenge votes, observers warn, but its ultimate resolution sent a signal that federal courts are unlikely to support an effort to overturn the results of an election.Democrat Allison Riggs defeated Republican Jefferson Griffin by 734 votes last November out of about 5.5m cast. But for months afterwards, Griffin waged an aggressive legal fight to get 65,000 votes thrown out after the election, even though those voters followed all of the rules election officials had set in advance.The effort was largely seen as a long shot until the North Carolina court of appeals accepted the challenge and said more than 60,000 voters had to prove their eligibility, months after the election, or have their votes thrown out. The Republican-controlled North Carolina supreme court significantly narrowed the number of people who had to prove their eligibility, but still left the door open to more than 1,000 votes being tossed.However, Judge Richard Myers II, a conservative federal judge appointed by Donald Trump, halted that effort on 5 May and ordered the North Carolina state board of elections to certify the race. “You establish the rules before the game. You don’t change them after the game is done,” he wrote in his ruling. Griffin shortly after said he would not appeal against the election and conceded the race.The North Carolina episode marked the most aggressive push by a Republican to overturn an election since Donald Trump’s blunt push to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential race. While both efforts were unsuccessful, the North Carolina state court’s embrace of such a brazen effort to disenfranchise voters after an election could set the stage for another candidate to try the same thing.“The damage to future North Carolina elections has already been done,” Bryan Anderson, a North Carolina reporter who authors the Substack newsletter Anderson Alerts, warned.View image in fullscreenThe North Carolina judges who had ruled in favor of Griffin, Anderson wrote, “have issued decisions paving the way for retroactive voter challenges. It’s a view that can’t be put back in a box and stands to create little incentive for candidates to concede defeat in close elections going forward.“There’s now also precedent for wrongly challenging voters who followed all rules in place at the time of an election and leaving them without any means to address concerns with their ballots,” he added.Although the North Carolina state board of elections was not willing to entertain Griffin’s challenges in the future this time around, North Carolina Republicans wrestled control of the state elections board from Democrats, and might be more willing to entertain efforts to disenfranchise voters.Richard Hasen, an election law scholar at the University of California Los Angeles said the episode sent “two conflicting signals, and it’s hard to know which one is going to dominate”.On the one hand, he said Donald Trump has created an atmosphere in which Republicans are “increasingly willing to believe” elections are being stolen and embrace efforts to overturn them.“On the other hand, the fact that you have pushback, at least from the federal courts, should give some people pause,” he said.Sean Morales-Doyle, director of the voting rights and elections program at the Brennan Center for Justice, said he believed the saga “closed the door” to similar challenges in the future.“Certainly it is a shame that it took six months to get here, but the end result here is a reaffirmation of the fact that the federal courts aren’t going to stand for changing the rules for an election after it’s been run,” he said. “Will other people try this? Maybe. But I think the lesson that should be learned from this is actually this won’t work.”But Griffin’s efforts may have “only failed because the federal courts that oversee North Carolina happen to be free of partisan corruption”, Mark Stern, a legal reporter, wrote in Slate.“But what if a Republican candidate loses by a hair in, say, Texas, where state and federal courts are badly tainted by GOP bias,” he wrote. “Griffin has laid out the blueprint for an election heist in such a scenario, with Scotus standing as the lone bulwark against an assault on democracy.”Although Republicans have been responsible for bringing election denialism into the mainstream in recent years, Benjamin Ginsberg, a well-respected Republican election lawyer who worked on George W Bush’s team during the Florida recount in 2000, said the legal strategy Griffin deployed was essentially what Al Gore tried to do.“That strategy has not worked, which is not to say somebody won’t try it again. Because history would teach you that candidates who lose narrow races, try everything. Throw it on the wall and see what sticks,” he said. More

    • 88 Shares99 Views

      in US Politics

      Trump’s dangerous projects follow a predictable pattern

      by

      Soon after Elon Musk slapped the air with a double Nazi salute, his brother Kimbal went on X to say: “This is what success feels like.” And three months ago, he seemed to have a point.The Trump administration, which appeared to have been co-led for a time by big brother Musk, is now in a period of retrenchment. Initiatives focused on Gaza, tariffs, spending, deporting millions of migrantand “government efficiency” have all deflated somewhat.We are admittedly only a small fraction of the way through this second Trump term, but a pattern appears to be emerging: the president proclaims a big policy goal, Maga appointees scramble to interpret his objectives, and then the whole thing is abandoned in paroxysm. Which isn’t to say that real harm isn’t being caused – just less than might otherwise be.First, the Gaza riviera. Trump’s response to the genocide in Palestine was to envision a grand ethnic cleansing embellished by Carrara marble and rickrack. Questions the president didn’t seem to have asked in advance: where would the Palestinians go? Why would Egypt or Jordan risk regime-ending instability? Who would pay for it all? Faced with the difficulty of implementing a complex plan,which only 3% of Israeli Jews regard as immoral, Trump retreated.But not before facilitating harm. His explicit endorsement of the majority view in Israel that Palestinian residents of Gaza should relocate has only permitted the leadership in that country to accelerate their Biden-era policy. Now, Israel Katz, the Israeli defense minister, openly speaks of using starvation as a tool in Gaza, something the Israelis were shy about admitting only seven months ago. And since Benjamin Netanyahu’s government broke the ceasefire with Hamas in March, Israeli troops have murdered more than 2,100 Palestinians – the majority of them children. Again, an extension of the Biden policy, but without the chintzy gilt.The tariff debacle, meanwhile, showcased the administration’s inability to shoot straight. A Forbes analysis counts nine flip-flops on tariff policy. Bad policy is bad – whiplash makes it worse.One of the arguments explaining the dollar’s status as the world’s reserve currency – the tender most countries use for trade and global finance – is that the US is a big and stable country that pays its bills and honors its commitments. That trust in America’s ability to manage an economy confers lots of benefits to Americans, such as lower borrowing and transaction expenses. Demand for the US dollar allows the US to finance deficits, seemingly indefinitely.But there are signs that the erratic tariff policy has caused other countries – who buy US debt – to question old assumptions about stability and growth. It turns out that, like addressing Palestine, trade policy is hard.But it didn’t have to be like this – a measured tariff policy could have helped enhance American industry. Coupled with prohibitions on stock buybacks – a Reagan-era concession to corruption that allows CEOs to inflate their stock prices and “performance” bonuses – a sensible tariff policy could have helped facilitate the investment of corporate profits domestically, reinvigorating the labor movement to produce better jobs. But policy requires a clear statement of goals and an understanding of how to get there – neither of which the Trump administration was able to articulate. Economic growth has almost certainly been dented by the bizarre trade war and myriad reversals – so we’ll probably see more deficit spending at higher borrowing rates.And then there’s Yemen, where the Houthi government has harassed Israeli-affiliated boats in response to the genocide. The catastrophic effort to bomb the Yemenis into submission, again, an extension of Joe Biden’s Israel policy, was preceded with bluster. In March, Trump issued a message on his website that read, “To all Houthi terrorists, YOUR TIME IS UP, AND YOUR ATTACKS MUST STOP, STARTING TODAY. IF THEY DON’T, HELL WILL RAIN DOWN UPON YOU LIKE NOTHING YOU HAVE EVER SEEN BEFORE!”But nearly two months into America’s bombing campaign, which has killed hundreds in Yemen at vast expense, the effort to open trade routes in the Red Sea has resulted in a negotiated detente which falls far short of achieving Trump’s goals. The deal commits the Yemenis to leaving American ships alone, but says nothing about Israeli-affiliated vessels. The Wall Street Journal reports that the deal took the Israelis by surprise.Meanwhile, Elon Musk’s “department of government efficiency” (Doge) dramatically overestimated its potential and overstated its accomplishments: at a meeting last month, Musk said he expected Doge cuts would save $150bn, or 85% less than the promised $1tn. Now Musk is returning to Tesla – whose weak quarterly results have caused the stock price to crash back to earth.All of it a bad joke, played on the American people.Trump’s inability to follow through on his big initiatives is probably attributable to lots of things, but the quality of the man, and the people around him, stick out. Pete Hesgeth, the secretary of defense, appears unfocused and unbalanced in interviews. Kristi Noem, head of the US Department of Homeland Security, seems obsessed with pageantry and appearances, while the attorney general, Pam Bondi, exhibits sycophantic tendencies. Marco Rubio, the secretary of state, and JD Vance spent a lot of time explaining how dangerous Trump was – Vance compared Trump to Hitler – before joining his administration. All seem to have been hired for their ability to flatter and prostrate themselves, which is not the same as competence or executive experience.So now, a bigger picture is emerging. The operating moral principle directing the Trump presidency seems to be that people are generally worse than they proclaim to be. And the president has gone out of his way to hire people with limited talent and ability, whose main qualification is Maga, people who can’t follow through on big pronouncements and goals. It is indeed government by the worst.

      Ahmed Moor is a writer and fellow at the Foundation for Middle East Peace More

    • 250 Shares99 Views

      in US Politics

      Donald Trump suggestion he will accept luxury plane from Qatar draws criticism from allies and rivals – US politics live

      by

      President Donald Trump is ready to accept a luxury Boeing 747-8 jumbo jet as a gift from the ruling family of Qatar during his trip to the Middle East this coming week – and American officials say it could be converted into a potential presidential aircraft.The Qatari government said a final decision had not been made, AP reports.However, Trump defended the idea – what would amount to a US President accepting an astonishingly valuable gift from a foreign government – as a fiscally shrewd move for the country.“So the fact that the Defense Department is getting a GIFT, FREE OF CHARGE, of a 747 aircraft to replace the 40 year old Air Force One, temporarily, in a very public and transparent transaction, so bothers the Crooked Democrats that they insist we pay, TOP DOLLAR, for the plane,” Trump posted on his social media site on Sunday night. “Anybody can do that!”ABC News reported that Trump will use the aircraft as his presidential plane until shortly before he leaves office in January 2029, when ownership will be transferred to the foundation overseeing his yet-to-be-built presidential library.The gift was expected to be announced when Trump visits Qatar, according to ABC’s report, as part of a trip that also includes stops in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, the first extended foreign travel of his second term.Laura Loomer, a far-right ally of Trump, said accepting Qatar’s plane would be a “stain” on the administration, adding that Qatar “fund the same Iranian proxies in Hamas and Hezbollah who have murdered US Service Members.”The Democratic National Committee said the move was proof of Trump using the White House for personal financial gain, while Democratic lawmakers blasted the plan as “wildly illegal,” and “corruption in plain sight.”President Donald Trump is ready to accept a luxury Boeing 747-8 jumbo jet as a gift from the ruling family of Qatar during his trip to the Middle East this coming week – and American officials say it could be converted into a potential presidential aircraft.The Qatari government said a final decision had not been made, AP reports.However, Trump defended the idea – what would amount to a US President accepting an astonishingly valuable gift from a foreign government – as a fiscally shrewd move for the country.“So the fact that the Defense Department is getting a GIFT, FREE OF CHARGE, of a 747 aircraft to replace the 40 year old Air Force One, temporarily, in a very public and transparent transaction, so bothers the Crooked Democrats that they insist we pay, TOP DOLLAR, for the plane,” Trump posted on his social media site on Sunday night. “Anybody can do that!”ABC News reported that Trump will use the aircraft as his presidential plane until shortly before he leaves office in January 2029, when ownership will be transferred to the foundation overseeing his yet-to-be-built presidential library.The gift was expected to be announced when Trump visits Qatar, according to ABC’s report, as part of a trip that also includes stops in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, the first extended foreign travel of his second term.Laura Loomer, a far-right ally of Trump, said accepting Qatar’s plane would be a “stain” on the administration, adding that Qatar “fund the same Iranian proxies in Hamas and Hezbollah who have murdered US Service Members.”The Democratic National Committee said the move was proof of Trump using the White House for personal financial gain, while Democratic lawmakers blasted the plan as “wildly illegal,” and “corruption in plain sight.”Hello and welcome to the US politics live blog. I’m Tom Ambrose and will be bringing you the latest news lines.We start with the news that China and the US have agreed a 90-day pause to the deepening trade war that has threatened to upend the global economy, with reciprocal tariffs to be lowered by 115%.Speaking to the media after talks in Geneva, the US treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, said both sides had shown “great respect” in the negotiations.Bessent said: “The consensus from both delegations this weekend was neither side wants a decoupling”.The 90-day lowering of tariffs applies to the duties announced by Donald Trump on 2 April, which ultimately escalated to 125% on Chinese imports, with Beijing responding with equivalent measures.China also imposed non-tariff measures, such as restricting the export of critical minerals that are essential to US manufacturing of hi-tech goods.The US trade representative, Jamieson Greer, said China’s retaliation had been disproportionate and amounted to an effective embargo on trade between the world’s two biggest economies.For the full story, see here:In other news:

      Hamas announced on Sunday that it will release the last living American hostage in Gaza, Edan Alexander, an Israeli-American soldier who was kidnapped on 7 October 2023. Trump confirmed the news in a social media post, writing that Alexander, 21, “is coming home to his family”, while thanking mediators Qatar and Egypt.

      A group of 49 white South Africans departed their homeland on Sunday for the United States on a private charter plane having been offered refugee status by the Trump administration under a new program announced in February. They are the first Afrikaners – a white minority group in South Africa – to be relocated after Trump issued an executive order in February accusing South Africa’s Black-led government of racial discrimination against them.

      Mass terminations and billions of dollars’ worth of cuts at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) have gutted key programs – from child support services to HIV treatment abroad – and created a “real danger” that disease outbreaks will be missed, according to former workers. Workers at the HHS, now led by Robert F Kennedy Jr, and in public health warned in interviews that chaotic, flawed and sweeping reductions would have broad, negative effects across the US and beyond.

      The US transportation secretary, Sean Duffy, plans to reduce the number of flights in and out of the Newark Liberty international airport for the “several weeks”, as the facility – one of the country’s busiest airports – struggles with radar outages, numerous flight delays and cancellations due to a shortage of air traffic controllers.

      A group of Quakers were marching more than 300 miles from New York City to Washington DC to demonstrate against the Trump administration’s crackdown on immigrants. Organisers of the march say their protest seeks to show solidarity with migrants and other groups that are being targeted by Trump.

      Trump said on Sunday he would sign an executive order to cut prescription prices to the level paid by other high-income countries, an amount he put at 30% to 80% less. The White House did not immediately offer more details on how the plan would work. More

    • 175 Shares199 Views

      in US Politics

      Amy Klobuchar to Democrats: don’t rule out female candidate in 2028 after Harris loss

      by

      US senator Amy Klobuchar says she hopes her party does not reflexively rule out running a woman for the White House after Kamala Harris – her fellow Democrat – lost to her Republican rival Donald Trump in November’s presidential election, arguing it’s not the “lesson to learn”.Responding to a question Sunday on NBC’s Meet the Press about whether Harris’s defeat might dissuade Democrats from nominating a female presidential candidate, Klobuchar said: “You have seen women run other countries quite well” before singling out the former German chancellor Angela Merkel as an example.Klobuchar added, “You’ve also seen women in the US [be] incredible mayors, incredible governors,” while further noting that fellow Democrats Tammy Baldwin, Elissa Slotkin and Jacky Rosen defeated Republican men in Senate races held in battleground states that Trump carried in the fall.“I mean – this happened,” Klobuchar, of Minnesota, said to Meet the Press moderator Kristen Welker. “So I just – I don’t think that’s a lesson to learn.”Klobuchar’s remarks served to rebut comments that Joe Biden recently delivered to the ABC program The View about his vice-president’s electoral loss to Trump. In a clip Meet the Press aired Sunday, Biden said Harris was “qualified” to succeed him as president. But the president told The View that, as disappointed as he was, he wasn’t surprised Harris’s run for the Oval Office came up short after her critics went “the sexist route, of the whole, ‘This is a woman, she’s this, she’s that.’”Welker asked Klobuchar whether Democrats may have had a better chance of retaining the presidency if Biden, who defeated an incumbent Trump in 2020, had not waited until June to announce that he was abandoning his campaign for a second term.Klobuchar said her party “would have been served better by a primary” election that was different than the one which saw Biden easily beat a few longshot Democratic challengers. Biden subsequently avoided a rematch with Trump by dropping out in the wake of a disastrous debate performance that exacerbated questions about his mental acuity and then endorsing Harris for president instead.Trump then captured every battleground state in November to decisively win the electoral college at Harris’s expense. He also narrowly clinched the popular vote – though he didn’t quite manage to secure 50% of the ballots cast in the race. It was the second time Trump outran a woman for the presidency, having defeated former secretary of state Hillary Clinton in 2016.He summarily went on to spend the beginning of his second presidency implementing brutal cuts to the federal government, waging economically destabilizing trade wars and deporting or detaining a significant number of immigrants, sometimes defying court orders to do so, among other moves.“We are where we are,” Klobuchar said, before maintaining that she and her colleagues had “to deal with helping the American people” as Trump’s policies throttled the country ever closer to a constitutional crisis rather than “looking backwards”.Welker asked Klobuchar – a senator since 2007 – whether she would run for president as she did in the 2020 Democratic primary won by Biden on his way to victory against Trump. Klobuchar did not rule out joining what is widely expected to be a crowded field of contenders but said, “I’m focused on my job right now.” More

    • 163 Shares99 Views

      in US Politics

      China and US agree 90-day pause to trade war initiated by Donald Trump

      by

      China and the US have agreed a 90-day pause to the deepening trade war that has threatened to upend the global economy, with reciprocal tariffs to be lowered by 115%.Speaking to the media after talks in Geneva, the US treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, said both sides had shown “great respect” in the negotiations.Bessent said: “The consensus from both delegations this weekend was neither side wants a decoupling.”The 90-day lowering of tariffs applies to the duties announced by Donald Trump on 2 April, which ultimately escalated to 125% on Chinese imports, with Beijing responding with equivalent measures.China also imposed non-tariff measures, such as restricting the export of critical minerals that are essential to US manufacturing of hi-tech goods.The US trade representative, Jamieson Greer, said China’s retaliation had been disproportionate and amounted to an effective embargo on trade between the world’s two biggest economies.With the 115% deduction, Chinese duties on US goods will be lowered to 10%, while the US tax on Chinese goods will be lowered to 30%. That is because the US tariffs include a 20% rate imposed by Trump before the latest trade war, which the president said was related to China’s role in the US’s fentanyl crisis. The fentanyl-related tariff will still apply.A spokesperson for China’s ministry of commerce said: “This move meets the expectations of producers and consumers in both countries, as well as the interests of both nations and the common interest of the world.“We hope that the US side will, based on this meeting, continue to move forward in the same direction with China, completely correct the erroneous practice of unilateral tariff hikes, and continually strengthen mutually beneficial cooperation.”China’s yuan jumped to a six-month high on the signal that the trade war would be paused. Up to 16m jobs were at risk in China, according to some estimates, while the US faced rising inflation and empty shelves thanks to dizzying tariffs on the biggest supplier of US goods.Bessent said he was impressed by the level of Chinese engagement on the fentanyl issue during the talks in Switzerland. “For the first time the Chinese side understood the magnitude of what is happening in the US,” Bessent said.A joint statement published by the US and China on Monday said that both sides would “continue to advance related work in a spirit of mutual openness, continuous communication, cooperation and mutual respect”.William Xin, the chair of the hedge fund Spring Mountain Pu Jiang Investment Management, told Reuters: “The result far exceeds market expectations. Previously, the hope was just that the two sides can sit down to talk, and the market had been very fragile. Now, there’s more certainty. Both China stocks and the yuan will be in an upswing for a while.”skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotionHu Xijin, the former editor of the nationalist Chinese tabloid the Global Times, said on social media the agreement was a “great victory for China in upholding the principles of equality and mutual respect”. Hu noted on Weibo that the recently agreed UK-US trade deal maintained the US’s 10% tariff on UK imports, “while the UK did not implement reciprocal measures”.Wang Wen, the head of the Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies at Renmin University in Beijing, said: “This is an unexpected achievement in Sino-US tariff negotiations.”However, Wang also urged caution, as he said the agreement “does not represent the resolution of the structural contradictions between China and the United States, nor does it mean that there will be no friction and serious differences between China and the United States in the future”.Stock markets across Europe rose in the aftermath of the US-China announcement. Germany’s DAX index jumped by 1.5%, with Mercedes-Benz, Daimler Trucks and BMW among the biggest risers. France’s CAC index rose by 1.2%.Additional research by Lillian Yang More

    • 175 Shares169 Views

      in US Politics

      Pharmaceutical stocks slide as Trump vows to cut US prescription drug prices ‘by 30-80%’

      by

      Donald Trump has promised to use his executive powers to cut the price of prescription drugs in the US in an attempt to bring them more in line with other countries, triggering a sharp fall in drugmakers’ share prices.The US president has said he will sign an order on Monday that will reduce prescription drug and pharmaceutical prices “almost immediately” by “30% to 80%”.Writing on Truth Social, his social media platform, Trump said on Sunday it was “difficult to explain and very embarrassing” why drug prices in the US were higher compared with many other countries.“The Pharmaceutical/Drug Companies would say, for years, that it was Research and Development Costs, and that all of these costs were, and would be, for no reason whatsoever, borne by the ‘suckers’ of America, ALONE,” he wrote.He said he would introduce a “most favoured nation” policy whereby the US pays “the same price as the nation that pays the lowest price anywhere in the World”.The comments triggered a sell-off in pharmaceutical stocks on Monday amid worries profits could be hit if firms have to cut prices in the US.In London, shares in the pharmaceutical companies AstraZeneca and GSK fell in early trading by as much as 5% and 3.2% respectively. Shares in Denmark’s Novo Nordisk which makes the weight loss and anti-diabetes drugs Wegovy and Ozempic, dropped by 7.5% in Copenhagen, while the Swiss group Roche Holdings fell by 3.6%.In South Korea, shares in SK Biopharmaceuticals and Samsung Biologics fell by 2.1% and 4.7% respectively. In Hong Kong, the cancer drug maker BeiGene dropped by nearly 9% and Innovent Biologics fell by 5.7%.In Japan, the pharmaceutical sector index fell by more than 4%, while Indian pharma stocks also dropped.Alex Schriver, a senior vice-president at Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, said: “Government price-setting in any form is bad for American patients. At a time when we are facing growing competition from China, policymakers should focus on fixing the flaws in the US system, not importing failed policies from abroad.”European drugmakers have been urging the EU to allow higher medicine prices, warning that without stronger investment incentives, Europe would fall further behind the US.Threats of US tariffs on pharmaceutical products have prompted a number of firms to announce manufacturing investments in the country, including Switzerland’s Novartis and Roche, and the US firms Johnson & Johnson and Gilead Sciences. Trump has hinted at a reprieve for companies, saying they would be given “a lot of time” to shift operations to the US before facing levies.skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotionTrump targeted high drug costs during his first administration, which aimed to cap prices for certain medicines under Medicare. However, the move was struck down in federal court after a challenge from drug companies.The American government already negotiates prices for some of the most expensive medicines used in Medicare, a federal health insurance programme, under Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act. Medicare covers 66 million Americans, mostly aged 65 or over.Trump did not specify on Sunday whether his executive order would apply to Medicare, Medicaid or other government health programmes.He suggested that industry lobbyists had been unsuccessful in the White House despite the fact that big pharmaceutical companies and industry bodies had made donations to his inauguration.“Campaign Contributions can do wonders, but not with me, and not with the Republican party. We are going to do the right thing, something that the Democrats have fought for many years,” he said. More

    • 200 Shares189 Views

      in US Politics

      A bicycle, pencil sharpener, 300lb of raw meat: US presidential gifts and the rules governing them

      by

      Reports that Donald Trump’s administration is preparing to accept a luxury plane from the Qatari royal family have set off a storm of criticism, as ethics experts say such a gift would violate rules within the constitution that seek to guard against bribery and corruption.There is a long history of US presidents accepting gifts from foreign powers. The very desk from which Trump has signed a record number of executive order was given to the US by Queen Victoria in 1880. The “Resolute Desk” was given to President Rutherford B Hayes and is made from the oak timbers of the British ship HMS Resolute.Clothes, antiques – and even animals – have all in the past been presented to US presidents. Most often these gifts are then disposed of through a complicated bureaucratic process enshrined in the constitution.During George W Bush’s administration, a puppy given to the president by the leader of Bulgaria was sent directly to the National Archives which preserves government and historical records. The puppy was then placed with a family.Bush was unable to keep the dog because under the constitution’s emoluments clause, government office holders are banned from accepting gifts from any “king, prince, or foreign state”, without the approval of Congress. Trump officials reportedly believe the president might be able to keep the luxury plane because it will be transferred to his presidential library at the end of his term. Sources say they arrived at that conclusion after determining that the gift was not conditioned on any official act and therefore was not bribery.View image in fullscreenUnder US law, foreign gifts valued at less than $480 can be retained by federal employees. Anything over that amount is considered a gift to the “people of the United States” and must be logged and then disposed of by the White House Gift Unit. Most gifts are transferred to the national archives or the presidents future presidential library which acts as an archive of the leader’s administration.Like other presidents, Barack Obama’s presidential library contains thousands of gifts, given to the former presidents, including silver cufflinks, Christmas ornaments and a double decker bus pencil sharpener.If a gift does take the president’s particular fancy, they can retain it, as long as they pay a fair market value for it.View image in fullscreenIn 2023, the US House oversight committee reported 100 items given to Trump from foreign nations in his first term were missing, after the White House failed to log them. They included a lifesize painting of the president given by the president of El Salvador and golf clubs from the prime minister of Japan that were valued at more than $250,000 in total. A spokesperson for Trump said many of the items “were received either before or after the administration”.The New York Times has reported that at an estimated value of $400m, the Boeing jet offer currently making headlines would probably be the most expensive gift from a foreign government in US history. It has been reported that the president would use the plane as the new Air Force One until shortly before the conclusion of his second Oval Office stint, at which point it could be transferred to his presidential library foundation, raising the prospect that Trump would have use of the plane even after his presidency ends.In a statement, the White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, said: “Any gift given by a foreign government is always accepted in full compliance with all applicable laws. President Trump’s administration is committed to full transparency.Despite the ethical concerns, foreign leaders use gifts as an important tool to strengthen relationships and break the diplomatic ice.In 1997, President Heydar Aliyev of Azerbaijan gave Bill Clinton and first lady Hillary Clinton a 6ft by 5ft rug with their faces on it, which was woven in just weeks, after the president accepted an invitation to the White House. Twelve women worked around the clock in eight-hours shifts to produce the carpet, a process that normally takes months.In 2008, Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert gave Bush a bicycle after it was reported that the then president was unable to jog because of an injury to his knee.Other members of the administration are governed by the same rules of gift giving and receiving. In 2005, vice-president Dick Cheney’s log of gifts was double that of president George W Bush’s. That year Cheney, an avid hunter, received four guns including one worth more than $6,000. For his part, Bush’s most eye-opening gift in 2005 might have been 300 pounds (136kg) of raw lamb from Argentina – a gift that was likely destroyed by the secret service due to official White House rules on food and drink gifts. More