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      ‘I ain’t ashamed anymore’: poverty and tragedy led Elvis Presley’s cousin to run for Mississippi governor

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      On a hot Saturday in late September, a couple of hundred Mississippians drove to a clearing off Martin Luther King Jr Road. They stayed in their cars, enjoying a few moments of cool air-conditioning before filing towards the field’s few shaded areas.Chrystal O’Neal, of nearby Fayette, grilled hamburgers and hot dogs, while volunteers filled tables with chips and beverages. What distinguished the gathering as a campaign event were the copious signs, all reminding those assembled that they were there to hear from Brandon Presley, the Democratic candidate in Mississippi’s upcoming gubernatorial election.The visit to Natchez was one of Presley’s campaign stops on his journey through all 82 of Mississippi’s counties. He made a point to speak to every single person present, personally introducing himself and shaking attendees’ hands, in hopes that on 7 November they would elect him Mississippi’s 66th governor, beating out Republican incumbent Tate Reeves to become the first Democrat to hold the position in nearly two decades.After four years marked with a chaotic and deadly response to the Covid-19 pandemic, an ongoing healthcare crisis and a welfare scandal, many Mississippians are looking for a change. Presley, who is anti-abortion and a lifelong Democrat, aims to end corruption in the state, expand Medicaid, increase funding for education and bring jobs to people across the state.With less than three weeks ahead, Presley is still trailing Reeves in the polls. Having endured a life of struggle and tragedy, he is not backing down.“I’m doing something Tate Reeves doesn’t have the courage to do, and that is to go to every county in the state,” Presley said. “The likelihood of some counties voting for me might be low, but the fact is, a governor should want to be in every county, listening to every constituent in the state of Mississippi: those that agree with you, those that don’t agree with you.”‘I’ve been there’By now, most Mississippians know Presley’s story.Now 45, he was born in Nettleton, in the north part of Mississippi. His grandfather and Elvis Presley’s grandfather were brothers – Brandon Presley was born shortly before his famous cousin’s death.His mother worked in a garment factory, raising him and his two siblings after their father was shot and killed on Presley’s first day of third grade.“We had our lights cut off, we had the water cut off, we had times in which the lights and the water were cut off – I’ve been there,” Presley told the crowd in Natchez. “I understand. There was probably a time in my life when I was a teenager and I was ashamed of that. I ain’t ashamed anymore. It made me who I am. It means you can get through anything.”He attended Itawamba Community College before going on to attend Mississippi State University.The young Presley looked up to his uncle, the Lee county sheriff Harold Ray Presley, as a father figure and mentor. Presley’s mother and the sheriff both died in 2001 – his mother died just days after Brandon filed his qualifying papers for mayor of Nettleton; the sheriff was shot and killed in the line of duty five days after Presley was sworn in.Presley, then 23, was one of the youngest mayors in the state’s history. During his time in office, he “cut property taxes twice and secured millions of dollars in grants for public projects like a new city hall, roads and parks”, according to a 2007 newspaper article.After his second term, Presley ran for and was elected to the northern district seat on the Mississippi public service commission, a three-member group that regulates utilities. He is completing his fourth term this year.An opportunity for changePresley, if elected, would be unlike other Democratic governors who came before him in the largely conservative state. He’s pro-life, has a conservative view on gun control and describes himself as a “populist, FDR-Billy McCoy Democrat”.During his campaign, Presley has pushed to extend Medicaid, the public health insurance program, in a state where nearly 20% of the population lives under the poverty line. His platform also includes ending corruption in the state, improving education, bringing in jobs and removing the sales tax for groceries.As he spoke with the crowd in Natchez about each of these promises, he received an impassioned response.O’Neal, a former casino worker whose son played while she worked the grill, said she had been looking forward to hearing Presley speak, and was “most definitely” voting for him come November. She, like many voters at the event, was drawn to Presley because of his commitment to expanding Medicaid and improving education.The statehouse representative Jeffery Harness, a Democrat who represents Claiborne, Franklin, Jefferson and Warren counties, mingled with other attendees. He, too, is eager to support Presley. “We need a Democratic governor,” he said. “It’s very important that we change the tide of the political atmosphere of the state.”Mississippi is in the midst of a healthcare crisis: many hospitals across the state are either at risk of closing or have already closed. According to the Center for Healthcare Quality and Payment Reform, Mississippi has 24 hospitals at risk of immediate closure.“There’s a lot of fear right now about the healthcare crisis we have in the state where hospitals are shutting down and it’s only getting worse,” Presley said. “I hear from people that are worried about whether or not they’ll be able to afford to get healthcare, to be at a hospital, and get the care that they need.”Despite 72% of voters supporting Medicaid expansion and 92% being concerned about hospital access, Mississippi is one of 10 states that continue to reject federal funding to expand health insurance; Reeves has balked at expanding Medicaid.“You got people today in Natchez that are sacking groceries, they’re wiping a table at the Waffle House. They’re doing the best they can do, yet they have no chance at healthcare and you’ve got a governor that not only doesn’t understand, he doesn’t care,” Presley told supporters at the Natchez event. “Y’all’ve all heard that old quote: ‘When somebody shows you who they are, believe them.’ Tate Reeves has shown us who he is.”Fresh on the minds of many Mississippians is also the ongoing fallout from the state’s welfare scandal, in which at least $77m in federal funds earmarked for the poorest state’s poorest residents were spent in the interests of the wealthy and politically connected.The scandal took place while Reeves was lieutenant governor. Reeves, who has not been charged with any crime, denies any wrongdoing. Last week, a defendant in the state’s lawsuit sued Reeves, claiming that he is illegally protecting himself and his allies.During the Natchez event, before Presley was able to mention the scandal, supporters called out, reminding him of it. “What about his thieving?” one man said.Of note, Reeves’ friend and personal trainer, Paul Lacoste, who endorsed Reeves in 2019, is now one of the people being sued by the state in an attempt to recoup misspent funds. According to court documents from the state’s welfare department, Lacoste improperly received $1.3m in welfare funds.“These were dollars that were aimed at working, poor people to put food on the table, pay the light bill,” Presley said.Despite the excitement around his campaign, Presley is trying to make up the gap in the race with only days to go.He has tried to court voters in key demographics. He repeatedly acknowledged that Black voters are essential to secure the race. On day one, he was endorsed by the Democratic US representative Bennie Thompson, arguably the most influential Black politician in the state. He has also attended events led by black Greek letter organizations and historically Black colleges and universities across the state, including recently attending both Jackson State University’s and Alcorn State University’s homecomings.“The truth is, people that look like me have been pitted against Black Mississippians for decades,” Presley told people at the Natchez event. “For two reasons: political power and money.”Presley has also worked to secure the support of younger voters – he himself, along with his supporters, have become mainstays at tailgates and other events at colleges across the state – and Indigenous voters.Despite that traction, he is up against an incumbent. Reeves, 49, has largely run an “us-versus-them” campaign, painting Presley as an outsider who is divorced from the lives of average Mississippians and functioning as a puppet for national Democratic interests.Reeves, a former investment banker, grew up in Flowood, a suburb of Jackson, and his father owns a multimillion-dollar heating and air conditioning business.Reeves attended Millsaps College, a private liberal arts college, where he joined Kappa Alpha Order, a fraternity known for its old south ball, in which members and their dates dress as Confederate soldiers and antebellum ladies (the national organization banned the wearing of Confederate uniforms to old south parades in 2010, but the practice stands).On bid day, when they were both students at Millsaps, the acclaimed writer and MacArthur grant winner Kiese Laymon got into an altercation with two fraternities on campus, including Kappa Alpha. Fraternity members wore Confederate capes and afro wigs, and some blackened their faces, Laymon, who played basketball against Reeves throughout high school, remembered years later.In 2020, Laymon wrote about “the heartbreak of seeing the future governor of Mississippi in that group of white boys, proudly representing the Kappa Alpha fraternity and its confederate commitment to Black suffering”.Though Presley has outraised Reeves, Reeves has more campaign cash on hand going into the final stretch of the election, the AP reported. Presley started the year with just under $730,000 in his campaign fund. Since then, he has raised about $7.9m, of which he has about $1.8m on hand as of last month. Comparatively, Reeves started the year with almost $7.9m across two campaign accounts. Since then, he has raised about $5.1m. At the end of last month, he reported about $4.2m cash on hand.Presley has long tried to debate Reeves.Finally, after months of Presley calling for a debate, including proposing five and accepting invitations from television stations and the Mississippi NAACP, Reeves agreed to one debate – to take place a week before the election.In a tweet posted last week, Reeves wrote: “Pleased to announce that the first Gubernatorial debate will be on November 1st at 7:00 PM on WAPT! I’m looking forward to talking about our record on jobs and schools, and dispelling the lies funded by out-of-state liberals.”Presley’s team is not scared to turn that rhetoric against his rival. Using a slogan made popular by Maga supporters, weeks ago the Presley campaign launched a commercial featuring Republicans, including former elected officials, all rallying behind Presley.“I’ve got three words for you,” the commercial says. “Let’s go, Brandon.” More

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      Left revolts over Biden’s staunch support of Israel amid Gaza crisis

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      On Wednesday afternoon, hundreds of liberal Jewish American activists staged sit-ins in the Capitol Hill offices of top Democrats, including in the senate office of progressive champion Bernie Sanders, to demand a ceasefire in the escalating war between Israel and Hamas.As they sang in Hebrew and prayed for peace, the House floor resumed legislative activity for the first time in weeks after the election of a new Republican speaker, congressman Mike Johnson.In his first act, Johnson brought to the floor a resolution declaring US solidarity with Israel after Hamas rampaged through Israeli cities, killing 1,400 people and taking more than 200 hostages, Americans among them. Nearly all House Democrats voted to approve the measure, save for a resolute minority who dissented, citing its failure to address the thousands of Palestinians killed in Israel’s retaliatory bombing campaign of Gaza.The discontent on display in Washington was a testament to the rising anger among the party’s left over the response from Biden and Democratic leaders to Israel’s war in Gaza. But as many progressives split from the White House over the US’s staunchly pro-Israel stance, there were also splits within the left itself – a sign of the raw emotions stirred by the conflict.Nor were the scenes in the House the only signs of discontent as US politics – and civil society as a whole – becomes increasingly roiled by Israel’s response to the 7 October Hamas attack.That same afternoon, Joe Biden was asked about the rising Palestinian death toll during a news conference at the White House. Biden replied that he had “no confidence” in the death count provided by the Gaza health ministry, which says nearly 7,000 Palestinians have been killed since the war began.“I’m sure innocents have been killed, and it’s the price of waging a war,” Biden said, in comments the Council on American-Islamic Relations described as “shocking and dehumanizing.”Online, many progressives seethed, accusing Biden of further enabling violence against Palestinians and predicting that he would pay an electoral price next year with Muslim and Arab American voters, who have emerged as an important Democratic constituency in recent elections.“The White House and many in the US government are clear as they should be that 1,000 Israelis killed is too many,” said Eva Borgwardt, the political director of IfNotNow, a progressive Jewish group leading many of the demonstrations in Washington, including the one at the Capitol on Wednesday. “Our question for them is: How many Palestinian deaths are too many?”As Israel intensifies its bombardment of Gaza, Biden is facing extraordinary and growing resistance from his party’s left flank, especially from young voters and voters of color, over his steadfast support for Israel. They have staged demonstrations, penned open letters and even tendered resignations in protest of the Biden administration’s handling of a war they say is threatening the president’s standing at home and possibly his chances of winning re-election next year.A Gallup poll released on Thursday found that Biden’s approval rating among Democrats plummeted 11 percentage points in one month, to a record low of 75%. According to the survey, the drop was fueled by dismay among Democratic voters over Biden’s support for Israel.Meanwhile, a poll released last week by the progressive firm Data for Progress found that 66% of likely US voters strongly or somewhat agree that the US should call for a ceasefire.Still, the White House has firmly rejected calls for a ceasefire, which Karine Jean-Pierre, the White House press secretary, initially described as “repugnant” and “disgraceful” in the immediate aftermath of the Hamas attack. The administration’s rhetoric has since evolved, with White House spokesperson John Kirby arguing this week that a ceasefire at this stage “only benefits Hamas”. Asked earlier this week whether the US would support a ceasefire, Biden said: “We should have those hostages released and then we can talk.”Pressure is building in Congress, where 18 House Democrats – all progressive lawmakers of color – joined a resolution calling for the White House to support “an immediate de-escalation and ceasefire in Israel and occupied Palestine”.On Capitol Hill, a group of Jewish and Muslim staffers wrote an anonymous open letter to their bosses similarly calling for an “immediate ceasefire” between Israel and Hamas. Urging congressional leaders to act swiftly, they cited the rising death toll in Gaza and the rise of antisemitism, anti-Muslim and anti-Palestinian sentiments in the United States.Meanwhile, hundreds of former campaign and congressional staffers to progressive senators, including Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, John Fetterman of Pennsylvania and Bernie Sanders of Vermont, have penned open letters urging them to call for a ceasefire.So far no senator has backed a ceasefire. Warren, Sanders and several other Democratic senators have urged a “humanitarian pause” to allow aid, food and medical supplies to flow into Gaza after Israel ordered a “complete siege” of the territory. It echoes the position of the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, who said earlier this week that it “must be considered” to protect civilian life.Sanders’ resistance to back a ceasefire has disappointed some of even his most loyal followers, in a sign of how emotionally fraught the debate over Israel has become on the left.Though the 2024 presidential election is a year away, many progressives, and especially younger activists, have threatened to withhold support for Biden, while Arab and Muslim Americans have expressed deep alarm over the president’s actions and rhetoric.Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib of Michigan, the only Palestinian American in Congress, has accused Biden of abetting the deadly war. “We will remember where you stood,” she wrote in a social media post tagging the president.At his press conference on Wednesday, Biden also cautioned Israel to be “incredibly careful to ensure they’re going after the folks propagating this war”. For many on the left, the warning was buried behind his comments casting doubt on the scale of war deaths in Gaza.“Like many progressive Democrats, I have applauded and been pleasantly surprised by President Biden’s actions on climate and the economy,” Waleed Shahid, a progressive strategist tracking the administration’s response to the war, wrote on X, formerly Twitter. “But he’s crossed a moral line with nearly every Muslim, Arab and anti-war young voter I know.”The White House said on Thursday the Biden administration did not dispute that thousands of Palestinians had been killed and emphasized that the health ministry was run by Hamas.skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotionEven a slight erosion in support could spell danger for Biden, who was already struggling with low enthusiasm, particularly among young voters.In polling conducted after the Hamas attack, a Quinnipiac survey found that slightly more than half of voters under 35 say they disapprove of the United States sending weapons and military support to Israel in the wake of the Hamas attack. By contrast, nearly six in 10 voters between the ages of 35 and 49 support sending weapons to Israel, with older age groups offering even stronger approval.Biden’s allies have largely downplayed the disagreements among the party’s grassroots. They note that most Democrats, including the party’s congressional leaders, the senator Chuck Schumer and the congressman Hakeem Jeffries, are strong supporters of Israel and fully back the president’s handling of the conflict. In the coming weeks, their caucuses are expected to overwhelmingly support a White House request to send $14.3bn in security aid to Israel.A letter to Biden, signed by ​a majority of House Democrats, including every Jewish​ member ​of their caucus and several liberal members, praises his ​”strong leadership during a tragic and dangerous moment in the Middle East​.​”It further commends Biden for displaying​ “steadfast support for our ally Israel in a moment of need and horror” while ​also making “clear statements regarding the fundamental importance of ensuring that the humanitarian needs of the civilian population of Gaza are met.”Deep, abiding support for Israel among Democrats on Capitol Hill obscures a shift among the party’s voters, and especially among those who came of age in a post-9/11 US. A Gallup poll conducted in March found for the first time that a greater number of Democrats say they sympathize more with Palestinians than Israelis.Republicans have sought to exploit those divisions in an attempt to cast the Democratic party as anti-Israel, a narrative progressives say media coverage has unfairly promoted.Many liberal Democrats, including the congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, have forcefully denounced pro-Hamas or antisemitic sentiments expressed by the party’s activist fringe. At the same time, they contend that there is a double standard in the way elected officials speak about Palestinians.They point to comments from Republicans like the senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, who described the conflict as a “religious war” and said Israelis should “do whatever the hell you have to do to defend yourself. Level the place.”Senator Tom Cotton, a Republican from Arkansas, made a similar remark, saying in an interview: “As far as I’m concerned, Israel can bounce the rubble in Gaza.”“I have long found the ignoring and sidelining of Palestinians in the US House of Representatives, the humanity of Palestinian populations, in the five years I have been in Congress, quite shocking,” Ocasio-Cortez said recently on MSNBC.With expectations that a large-scale Israeli invasion of the besieged territory is imminent, demands for an immediate ceasefire have grown louder and more urgent.In a statement on Friday, amid intensifying bombing and a communications blackout in Gaza, Alexandra Rojas, the executive director of the progressive group Justice Democrats, implored the president to act now to prevent a ground invasion that would “ensure thousands more civilian casualties, bring us closer to an all-out regional conflict in the Middle East, and thrust the United States into another endless war”.Looking to the future, progressives say the administration must be prepared to dramatically reshape Washington’s decades-long approach to Israel and Palestine.“If we want to take a consistent policy towards human rights, we cannot always be focused on supporting the rights and security of one side here,” said Matt Duss, a former foreign policy adviser to Sanders.“The status quo,” he said, “is clearly unsustainable.” More

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      Judge orders Ivanka Trump to testify in family’s civil fraud trial – as it happened

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      Amid all the jockeying in next year’s presidential race, frontrunner for the Republican nomination Donald Trump has been busy in a New York City courtroom, where a judge is presiding over his family’s civil fraud trial – and just ruled that his daughter can appear as a witness.Law360 reports that judge Arthur Engoron decided Ivanka Trump can be called to testify in the trial, where he is deciding what penalties to impose against the Trumps after finding they committed financial fraud:However, the soonest Ivanka could appear on the witness stand is next week, Engoron ruled:A New York City judge ruled that Ivanka Trump may appear on the witness stand in the civil fraud trial of her father Donald Trump and other family members as soon as next week. In Long Island, the Republican congressman and prolific liar George Santos pleaded guilty to a slate of new federal charges against him, and learned he would stand trial beginning on 9 September of next year. That’s about two months before the presidential election, and it appears Joe Biden will have a challenger for the Democratic nomination: Dean Phillips, a relatively inexperienced Minnesota congressman who declared his candidacy today.Here’s what else happened:
      Biden was briefed on the manhunt for the perpetrator of a mass shooting in Lewiston, Maine that killed 18 people on Wednesday.
      A new Gallup poll shows the president’s approval rating slipping among Democrats, potentially due to his pro-Israel stance in its boiling conflict with Gaza.
      Some of Donald Trump’s co-defendants in the Georgia election subversion case are being offered plea deals, while others are not.
      Mike Johnson signaled he would be willing to continue the impeachment inquiry into Biden, in the Republican’s first interview since being elected House speaker.
      Democrats hope an upcoming Wisconsin supreme court case could turn the balance of power in the crucial swing state back in their favor.
      The mass shooting in Lewiston has prompted one of Maine’s two House representatives, Jared Golden, to reverse his opposition to an assault weapons ban, the Guardian’s Erum Salam reports. There could be political implications to this, as Golden is one of five Democrats nationwide whose districts voted for Republican Donald Trump in 2020:US house representative Jared Golden, of Maine’s second district, has made a stunning reversal of his opposition to efforts to ban assault rifles – in the wake of the mass shooting in a bowling alley and restaurant in Lewiston in the state on Wednesday night, which killed 18.In 2022, Golden was among the few Democrats to vote against a bill in Congress that would have banned the sale of assault weapons to the American public for the first time since 2004. Joe Biden has repeatedly sought such a ban and, on Thursday, a day after the worst such massacre in his state’s history, Golden joined the US president’s calls.The bill would have blocked the sale, manufacture, transfer, or possession of military-style semiautomatic assault weapons and large-capacity ammunition devices and Golden also voted against a bill that would have raised the age limit for purchasing a semiautomatic rifle and banned the sale of high-capacity magazines.Golden is now receiving praise from many of his constituents and colleagues for his change of position.The White House just announced that Joe Biden has received an update on the search for the gunman behind a mass shooting Lewiston, Maine on Wednesday that left 18 people dead.From their statement:
      This afternoon the president was updated by his senior staff on the latest information about the mass shooting in Lewiston, Maine. He also spoke with FBI director Christopher Wray, who described the more than 200 FBI personnel who are in Maine to support the investigation – including the ongoing manhunt – and provide assistance to the victims. The president expressed appreciation for the courageous work of all the federal, state and local law enforcement personnel.
      We have a live blog covering the latest on the manhunt, and you can read it here:In Wisconsin, a crucial swing state for any presidential candidate, the Guardian’s Alice Herman and Sam Levine report a supreme court decision could unravel gerrymandered maps that Republicans have used to their advantage for more than a decade, potentially boosting Democratic candidates:Lynn Carey, a retired nurse with a double lung transplant, has spent years trying to get Wisconsin lawmakers to improve healthcare. Carey organized voters in support of the Affordable Care Act back in 2009. Since its passage, she has pushed to get her Republican representatives in the state legislature to expand Medicaid coverage to its poorest residents.The idea has been overwhelmingly popular in Wisconsin: a 2019 poll showed 70% of voters in the state supported it. But Medicaid expansion hasn’t gone anywhere – even after Democrats won back Wisconsin’s governorship in 2018.Republicans still hold near-supermajorities in both chambers of the legislature, and have shown no sign of compromise on this issue or many others popular with most Wisconsinites. Their legislative majorities are virtually impenetrable, cemented by Republican-drawn district lines that have guaranteed Republicans control of the legislature even in years where Democrats received more votes statewide. “We don’t have competitive districts where people have to listen to their constituents,” Carey said.That could change soon.Differing opinions over the conflict between Israel and Hamas erupted in the House yesterday, when the rightwing lawmaker Marjorie Taylor Greene introduced a resolution to censure Rashida Tlaib.The progressive Democrat from Michigan is one of two Muslim lawmakers in the chamber, and has been calling for a ceasefire in the worsening conflict. Tlaib responded to Greene’s allegations of antisemitism by calling her Islamophobic in a statement:Later in the day, the Democratic congresswoman Becca Balint introduced a separate resolution to censure Greene for allegations of racism and dishonoring people who died in the September 11 terrorist attacks. Here’s her reading the proposal on the House floor:And the Republican Anthony D’Esposito also spoke to introduce a resolution expelling his fellow New Yorker George Santos from the chamber, citing his many lies and federal criminal charges:Thus, the first full day of work for the House since Kevin McCarthy’s removal as speaker and eventual replacement by the conservative Republican Mike Johnson ended with two censure resolutions and one expulsion petition pending before it. The chamber is in recess today.Speaking of Joe Biden’s re-election campaign, the president has thrown his support firmly behind Israel in the wake of the 7 October terror attack and its threat to invade the Gaza Strip to defeat Hamas. As the Guardian’s Tom Perkins and Erum Salam report, it’s a stance that could have consequences for his ability to win electoral votes in Michigan, a swing state with a large Arab American population:Leading up to the 2020 election, Arab American organizers in south-east Michigan like Terry Ahwal worked to convince their community to go to the polls for Joe Biden. The message was simple: Donald Trump’s Islamophobic rhetoric and policies such as the Middle East travel ban were a threat to Arab Americans. Voters mobilized to help push Biden over the top in this critical swing state.Several years on, amid Biden’s full-throated support of Israel in the current war and an unfolding humanitarian crisis that has claimed thousand of lives in Gaza, Ahwal feels deep regret: “I have to say “I’m sorry’ to my friends.’”Ahwal is among hundreds of thousands of Arab Americans in Michigan, many of whom are watching with horror as the US supports Israel as it carries out its bombing campaign. After the community backed Biden by a wide margin in November 2020, the feeling goes “beyond betrayal”, about a dozen Arab Americans in Michigan said.“This is a complete loss of humanity, it is the active support of a genocide, and I don’t think it gets any worse than that,” said Huwaida Arraf, a Palestinian American activist and attorney. “I’ve gotten a few comments, ‘Well, the GOP is going to be worse,’ and my question is: ‘How can you get worse than active support of a genocide?’”Polls show that Americans have generally been supportive of Israel and its response to the 7 October attack, though Morning Consult data released this week also shows the number of people who sympathize equally with Israelis and Palestinians is on the rise. That poll also showed support for Biden’s response is growing.But Arab Americans who spoke with the Guardian said they did not know of anyone in their community who would vote for Biden in 2024. That could have profound consequences in a state in which Trump won by 10,000 votes in 2016, and a tight rematch is taking shape.Meanwhile, in New Hampshire, the Democratic congressman Dean Phillips launched his bid to oust Joe Biden atop the party’s presidential ticket next year.In remarks after he began his campaign, he eluded both to Biden’s dire poll numbers and his advanced age as reasons for running:Phillips also responded to a question about a reported 2019 campaign donation from Harlan Crow, the billionaire Republican donor who also lavished gifts on conservative supreme court justice Clarence Thomas:Now that all three of Donald Trump’s adult children are due to testify at the civil fraud trial of the family business, in addition to the former president himself, the scene is set for a great reunion in New York.Ivanka Trump has been relatively absent from mainstream media headlines since her father lost the 2020 election to Joe Biden and the clan packed their boxes and departed the White House, where Ivanka had acted as an aide to her father as president.She testified briefly but devastatingly to the congressional bipartisan committee investigating the 6 January 2021 insurrection at the US Capitol encouraged by the then president.She admitted to the panel in July 2022 that she did not believe Donald Trump’s false claims that the 2020 election was stolen from him because of widespread voting fraud. She hadn’t stood up and made statements to that effect when all the malarkey was going down with Trump’s failed legal campaign to reverse the result and then the deadly attack on the Capitol.She accepted that Biden had won after Trump’s former attorney general Bill Barr essentially told her he had, something Barr also told Donald Trump and had acknowledged publicly in 2020.So Ivanka, Donald Jr and Eric can now be expected on the witness stand in the trial of the Trump Organization. She stepped down from the family business empire in 2017. Ivanka had her own fashion business that was also based in New York before her father won the White House. That ended in 2018.Her lawyer told the court on Friday that she hadn’t personally done business in the Big Apple since 2017.Ivanka Trump, her husband Jared Kushner and their children live in Florida and have appeared to distance themselves from presidential politics.Ivanka Trump may appear on the witness stand in the civil fraud trial of her father Donald Trump and other family members as soon as next week, thanks to a judge’s ruling. Elsewhere in New York state, Republican congressman and liar George Santos pleaded guilty to a slate of new federal charges against him, and learned he would stand trial beginning on 9 September of next year. That’s about two months before the presidential election, and it appears Joe Biden will have a challenger for the Democratic nomination: Dean Phillips, a relatively inexperienced Minnesota congressman who declared his candidacy today.Here’s what else has happened:
      A new Gallup poll shows Biden’s approval rating slipping among Democrats, potentially due to his pro-Israel stance in its boiling conflict with Gaza.
      Some of Donald Trump’s co-defendants in the Georgia election subversion case are being offered plea deals, while others are not.
      Mike Johnson signaled he would be willing to continue the impeachment inquiry into Biden in the Republican’s first interview since being elected House speaker.
      Donald Trump’s legal troubles extend far and wide, including to Georgia, where the Guardian’s Hugo Lowell reports some of his co-defendants in his election meddling case are not being offered plea deals by prosecutors – while others are:Donald Trump’s top co-defendants charged with conspiring to overturn the 2020 election results in Georgia have not been offered plea deals since they were indicted, people close to the matter said on Wednesday, raising tensions among some in that group as they prepare to recalibrate their legal strategies.The co-defendants without offers include the former US president himself, former Trump White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, and former Trump lawyers John Eastman and Rudy Giuliani, the people said – individuals who played leading roles in the alleged conspiracies.The lack of offers from the Fulton county district attorney, Fani Willis, in contrast to those deals agreed with the other Trump election lawyers Kenneth Chesebro and Sidney Powell, has caused some of Trump’s top co-defendants to reconsider their legal strategy and weigh options such as seeking an expedited trial or trying to sever their cases.Trump and his original 19 co-defendants pleaded not guilty in August to charges that they violated the Rico statute in Georgia in trying to reverse his election defeat. But the pressure on Trump’s closest allies has increased in recent weeks after four co-defendants accepted plea agreements.Shifting back to Donald Trump and his family’s civil fraud trial in New York City, NBC News reports that it is unclear what Ivanka Trump may say on the witness stand, but prosecutors have waged a hard-fought campaign to get her to testify.Her lawyers could also still appeal the ruling that will see her take the stand after 1 November. Here’s more from NBC’s report:
      Trump’s attorneys had challenged New York Attorney General Letitia James’ subpoena to Ivanka Trump, noting an appeals court had ruled earlier this year that she should be dropped as a defendant in the case over statute of limitations issues.
      They contended the AG’s office was trying “to continue to harass and burden President Trump’s daughter long after” the appeals court “mandated she be dismissed from the case.”
      They also argued that the AG waited too long to subpoena her, and argued the office doesn’t have jurisdiction over her because she no longer lives in the state.
      The AG’s office countered that Ivanka Trump, a former White House official, still has information important to their case.
      “While no longer a Defendant in this action, she indisputably has personal knowledge of facts relevant to the claims against the remaining individual and entity Defendants. But even beyond that, Ms. Trump remains financially and professionally intertwined with the Trump Organization and other Defendants and can be called as a person still under their control,” the AG contended in a court filing.
      The office said it wanted to ask her questions about Trump’s former Washington, D.C. hotel, and noted she profited from the sale.
      “Ms. Trump remains under the control of the Trump Organization, including through her ongoing and substantial business ties to the organization,” the AG argued, adding that she “does not seem to be averse to her involvement in the family business when it comes to owning and collecting proceeds from the OPO (hotel) sale, the Trump Organization purchasing insurance for her and her companies, managing her household staff and credit card bills, renting her apartment or even paying her legal fees in this action. It is only when she is tasked with answering for that involvement that she disclaims any connection.” More

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      Maine representative reverses opposition to assault rifle bans following shooting

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      US House representative Jared Golden, of Maine’s second district, has made a stunning reversal of his opposition to efforts to ban assault rifles in the wake of the mass shooting in a bowling alley and restaurant in Lewiston on Wednesday night, which killed 18.In 2022, Golden was among the few Democrats to vote against a bill in Congress that would have banned the sale of assault weapons to the American public for the first time since 2004. Joe Biden has repeatedly sought such a ban and, on Thursday, a day after the worst such massacre in his state’s history, Golden joined the US president’s call.The bill would have blocked the sale, manufacture, transfer, or possession of military-style semi-automatic assault weapons and large-capacity ammunition devices. Golden also voted against a bill that would have raised the age limit for purchasing a semi-automatic rifle and banned the sale of high-capacity magazines.Golden is now receiving praise from many of his constituents and colleagues for his change of position.Politicians further to the left of Golden have expressed approval of his remarks, which he made on Thursday.He said: “I have opposed efforts to ban deadly weapons of war like the assault rifle he [the gunman] used to carry out this crime. The time has now come for me to take responsibility for this failure. Which is why I now call on the United States Congress to ban assault rifles, like the one used by the sick perpetrator of this mass killing.“For the good of my community, I will work with any colleague to get this done in the time that I have left in Congress.”Golden, who is originally from Lewiston, ended his speech by asking for forgiveness and support from the people of his hometown, his “constituents throughout the second district, to the families who lost loved ones, and to those who have been harmed”.On X, formerly Twitter, fellow Democrats who have long stood in favor of stricter gun laws, such as Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, applauded Golden.She said: “Powerful, brave, and moving. This is leadership. Thank you. Our community stands with yours throughout this tragedy and in the work ahead.”Representative Maxwell Frost, 26, the first member of gen Z elected to Congress and a survivor of gun violence, said: “It takes a lot of courage to go on national television and admit that you were wrong about something. Thank you @RepGolden. Time to #BanAssaultWeapons”.At least 566 mass shootings have taken place this year across the country, according to the Gun Violence Archive. Tens of thousands of people are killed in the US every year in gun violence, including mass shootings such as the ones at elementary schools in Uvalde, Texas, and Sandy Hook, Connecticut; a high school in Parkland, Florida; and entertainment spots and public events across the country.Golden changed tack after the shooting that affected his home town. Some X users criticized him for not changing his stance sooner.He was elected to national office in 2018. Before that he was a state representative in Maine and a member of the Marine Corps. More

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      ‘How can I vote for Biden?’ Arab Americans in Michigan ‘betrayed’ by Israel support

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      Leading up to the 2020 election, Arab American organizers in south-east Michigan like Terry Ahwal worked to convince their community to go to the polls for Joe Biden. The message was simple: Donald Trump’s Islamophobic rhetoric and policies such as the Middle East travel ban were a threat to Arab Americans. Voters mobilized to help push Biden over the top in this critical swing state.Several years on, amid Biden’s full-throated support of Israel in the current war and an unfolding humanitarian crisis that has claimed thousand of lives in Gaza, Ahwal feels deep regret: “I have to say “I’m sorry’ to my friends.’”Ahwal is among hundreds of thousands of Arab Americans in Michigan, many of whom are watching with horror as the US supports Israel as it carries out its bombing campaign. After the community backed Biden by a wide margin in November 2020, the feeling goes “beyond betrayal”, about a dozen Arab Americans in Michigan said.“This is a complete loss of humanity, it is the active support of a genocide, and I don’t think it gets any worse than that,” said Huwaida Arraf, a Palestinian American activist and attorney. “I’ve gotten a few comments, ‘Well, the GOP is going to be worse,’ and my question is: ‘How can you get worse than active support of a genocide?’”Polls show that Americans have generally been supportive of Israel and its response to the 7 October attack, though Morning Consult data released this week also shows the number of people who sympathize equally with Israelis and Palestinians is on the rise. That poll also showed support for Biden’s response is growing.But Arab Americans who spoke with the Guardian said they did not know of anyone in their community who would vote for Biden in 2024. That could have profound consequences in a state in which Trump won by 10,000 votes in 2016, and a tight rematch is taking shape.Still, the Biden administration has remained steadfastly supportive of Israel, proposing $14bn in aid; providing weapons such as missiles and armored personnel carriers; refusing calls for a ceasefire; and deploying US troops to the region. A Data for Progress poll released Thursday found 66% of Americans think the US should call for a ceasefire.The use of Arab American tax dollars to bomb Gaza is generating “widespread horror and fury”, Arraf said.Though Biden has called on Israel to show restraint and touted a deal he struck to allow trucks carrying aid to enter Gaza, Arab Americans who spoke with the Guardian view the gestures as pittances. They see the US’s support as ham-fisted and “shocking” in the context of the last presidential election.“Even our conservative members voted for Biden, only to get a guy who dehumanizes us, who is sending the weapons to Israel, and the only purpose of these weapons is to use Palestinian as target practice,” Ahwal said. “I don’t know anybody who would vote for him.”That sentiment was echoed by Muslim and Arab Americans elsewhere in the country. Zohran Mamdani, a New York assemblymember, called Biden’s response to the crisis “disgusting” and warned that the president is underestimating the Arab American voting bloc.“I have had many constituents of mine, as well as Muslims from beyond my district, reach out to me and ask me: ‘How am I supposed to vote for Joe Biden?’ And I don’t know what I’m supposed to tell them,” he said.A number of people also expressed fears that the Biden administration’s rhetoric and positions are fanning the flames of Islamophobia in the US and putting their communities in danger. People who are publicly critical of Israel or supportive of Palestine have lost jobs and faced harassment in recent weeks. Muslim and Arab American politicians are receiving death threats and the level of vitriol is above what was experienced in the wake of 9/11, said Abraham Aiyash, a Muslim American state representative in Michigan.The president’s comparison of Hamas’s attacks to “15 9/11s”, Aiyash said, “enhances Islamophobia”, referencing the recent murder in Illinois of a six-year-old Palestinian American boy in an alleged hate crime.“If you support [Israel’s war] abroad, you have to be ready for the consequences of it at home,” he said.Multiple Palestinian Americans who do not work in politics declined to speak with the Guardian over safety fears.Any potential for political fallout for Biden is greatest in Michigan, a critical swing state that is home to 300,000 Arab Americans who helped boost Biden after Clinton’s narrow 2016 loss. Biden beat Trump in 2020 by about 150,000 votes.Few – if any – issues are more important to this group than Palestine and Middle East foreign policy, said Amer Zahr, a Palestinian American activist and comedian. He noted that Dearborn, a majority Arab American city just outside Detroit, went for Bernie Sanders by a significant margin during the last two Democratic presidential primaries because Sanders was willing to challenge US policy on Israel.But Biden was viewed as better than Trump, so Arab-Americans turned out in the general election, Zahr said. Next time, many people have said, they will vote third party, or leave the top of the ticket blank.Dearborn went 63% for Clinton in 2016 when she lost the state by 10,000 votes, but nearly 80% for Biden four years later. In the four municipalities with the largest Arab American populations in metro Detroit, about 40,000 more people voted for Biden than Clinton.“They came into our community and asked us to vote for Joe Biden and save America from Donald Trump, and now we feel like we have to save Palestine from Joe Biden,” Zahr added. “The argument that we heard before is we have to save the country from Trump – that’s not going to work.”“If [2024] is going to be a close election then the loss of Arab American support for Biden could have an impact,” said the state pollster Bernie Porn.The White House’s “lazy” language and the skewed portrayal of the crisis in US media dehumanizes Arabs – Palestinians, in particular, said James Zogby, the founder and president of the Arab American Institute, a Washington DC-based civil rights advocacy organization.“This objectification of Palestinians and the humanization of Israelis – which is an old story going back to the beginning of the conflict – fed into the pre-existing narrative that it’s Israeli people versus the Arab or Palestinian problem,” he said.The White House, he added, “sets the tone”, and “it’s important for us to let the administration know, you’re at risk of losing this particular component group of the community.”Those who spoke with the Guardian said they found the situation especially frustrating because they expected this kind of policy and positions from Republicans, but not Democrats.“What makes me incensed with Democrats is that they preach human rights, preach equality and diversity, but when it comes to Palestinians, all the preaching goes away, and there is justification for the killing and slaughter,” Ahwal said.“I know the ramifications and I know the consequences but I cannot justify a vote for a guy who says it’s OK to kill Palestinians.” More

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      ‘I ask for forgiveness’: Maine lawmaker who opposed gun ban – video

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      After a gunman killed 18 people in Maine this week, the Democratic representative, Jared Golden, said he was changing his stance on gun legislation and would now support banning assault weapons. At a news conference in Lewiston, where the mass shooting occurred, Golden said he had previously opposed a ban on what he described as ‘deadly weapons of war’ out of fear for the lives of his family members. Announcing his new position, Golden said he would work with any colleague to achieve gun legislation during his time left in Congress More

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      Democratic congressman Dean Phillips launches primary challenge against Biden

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      Little-known Democratic congressman Dean Phillips has launched a campaign to challenge sitting President Joe Biden, leaving many of his supporters and colleagues confused, if not outright upset.After weeks of speculation and behind-the-scenes manoeuvreing, Phillips finally publicly announced he’s running in an interview on CBS.A campaign website, dean24.com, went live Thursday night, but simply solicits donations and carries no details on Phillips’ plans or policy ideas. He also filed paperwork with the Federal Elections Commission Thursday night.The centrist third-term Minnesota congressman is expected to file paperwork to run in the primary contest in New Hampshire on Friday morning, the secretary of state’s office there confirmed Thursday.Running on a slogan of “Make America Affordable Again,” a nod to former President Donald Trump’s “Make America Great Again,” Phillips brought a campaign bus and “government repair” van to New Hampshire to make his case to voters.In his interview on CBS News, Phillips said Biden had done a “spectacular job for our country.”“But it’s not about the past,” Phillip said. “This is an election about the future. I will not sit still, I will not be quiet, when we’re facing numbers that are so clearly saying that we’ll be facing an emergency next November.”Phillips so far has not articulated the policy differences between himself and Biden. Instead, he’s pointed to Biden’s age, saying a younger generation should be given the opportunity to lead.It’s not clear how Phillips’ entry into the Democratic primary would achieve the goal of passing the torch to younger politicians: He is near-certain to lose the Democratic nomination contest, and his pressure on the president’s campaign cannot solve the issue of Biden’s age. Phillips’ end goal with the campaign could be an attempt to boost himself nationally, though it’s likely to anger more Democrats than win them over.He will not have the financial or organizational support of the Democratic Party, either nationally or locally, as it will work to keep the top office in party control by backing Biden. Phillips, though, has his own wealth. He is heir to a distilling company and the former co-owner of gelato company Talenti.While Democrats nationally and in New Hampshire are asking “who” when they hear of Phillips’ campaign, Minnesota Democrats are asking “why.”The Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party said it will be “enthusiastically supporting” Biden in the primary and general election, touting the president’s record.“A primary challenge only wastes the resources we need to defeat Donald Trump and the Maga extremists who are threatening our democracy,” said Ken Martin, the Minnesota party’s chair.Some local Democrats who supported Phillips in his previous runs for Congress, in a centrist district that he flipped from Republican control in 2018, said they feel bewildered by the choice and are struggling to figure out the end goal. The presidential announcement comes after another move that angered some progressives in his district, when Phillips said he wouldn’t oppose Republican Minnesota congressman Tom Emmer for speaker as long as Emmer met certain conditions, like funding the government and bringing aid bills for Ukraine and Israel to the floor. His speculated run for the presidency drew him a primary challenger in his district.Bonnie Westlin, a state senator in Minnesota who lives in Phillips’ district, wrote on X, formerly Twitter, that the congressman should resign his seat and that he would never get her support for elected office again.“Make America Affordable Again? Pretty rich coming from a multimillionaire,” she wrote.Westlin told the Guardian that she’s supporting Biden, like the rest of the state and national party leaders.“With so much on the line in 2024, including abortion rights and the very fate of democracy at home and abroad, undermining president Biden with a primary challenge is an unnecessary distraction and only serves to put the future of our country in jeopardy,” she said.Susan Herder, a Democrat in Minneapolis, near Phillips’ suburban district, said she has respect for Phillips but that his entry into the presidential race is an “unfortunate choice.” She’s a huge Biden supporter and hopes that Phillips being in the primary somehow fuels the Biden campaign more and gives the president additional momentum.Nationally, Democratic elected officials have spoken out against Phillips’ plans to run. Phillips stepped down from a Dem leadership role because his views on Biden’s reelection were “causing discomfort” with his colleagues. Biden’s camp has pointed to Phillips’ near-lock-step voting record with the Biden agenda.Biden himself will not be on the New Hampshire ballot because the state’s contest because it now falls outside the Democratic National Committee’s rules for selecting delegates. He is, however, visiting Minnesota next week. More

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      Congressman Dean Phillips to launch Democratic primary bid against Biden

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      Dean Phillips, a Democratic congressman from Minnesota who is relatively unknown on the national US stage, is set to launch a long-shot campaign to primary Joe Biden in New Hampshire on Friday.The New Hampshire secretary of state’s office confirmed Phillips is scheduled to file paperwork to get on the ballot there on Friday morning.The Phillips campaign did not respond to a request for comment on his impending announcement.Phillips, who has represented western suburbs of Minneapolis since 2019 in Congress, has pointed to the US president’s age in discussing his potential primary run, saying the next generation of leaders should step up. Biden is 80 years old; Phillips is 54.The congressman is the heir of the Phillips Distilling Company and co-owned Talenti gelato. His run in 2018 for Minnesota’s third congressional district flipped the seat from Republican control. With a slogan of “everyone’s invited”, Phillips calls himself an “eternal optimist” and “bipartisan believer”.There’s little difference between Phillips and Biden on policy: Phillips has voted with Biden’s legislative agenda nearly 100% of the time, the White House pointed out.While Phillips has not officially announced his run, he has teased it for months. In recent days, a campaign bus was spotted en route to New Hampshire, and a campaign van was seen in the state. The vehicles carried a campaign website, dean24.com, which has been parked but not publicly set up yet.Earlier this month, Phillips stepped down from leadership roles in the caucus, saying: “It’s clear my convictions about 2024 are incongruent with the position of my colleagues and that was causing discomfort.”Phillips’s plan to primary an incumbent president has largely been met with confusion and derision, both from his colleagues and his constituents. He has also drawn a primary challenger in his district.skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotionA spokesperson for the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor party confirmed the state party will be supporting Biden in the primary and general elections in 2024.Separately, Biden is set to visit Minnesota next week. More